From There to Here - A Collection of Our Stories

INTRODUCTION

In 2014, North Coast Community Housing (NCCH) celebrates thirty years of housing our local communities. To mark that milestone,weweretryingtocomeupwithasuitablewaythatnot only acknowledges the organisation’s enduring success, but also tohonourourtenantsandstaff.

Back in 2010, members of the Tenant Council approached me about an idea they had to collect short life stories as a way of capturingthe historyof some of our tenants, toshow the diverse backgroundsandexperiencesofthepeoplewhomakeNCCHwhat itistoday.

It all began when Dolores Close showed a book to Barbara Waters that had been written by Bob ’Memory Man’ Mitchell titled, 1,001 Life Story Questions. His book started a conversation between them and the idea of writing a collection of life stories seemed to be the ideal way to highlight this significant occasion. The project presented the perfect opportunity to invite Bob Mitchell to Byron Bay in November 2010, to present a workshop onhowtogatheroralhistoriesfromfriendsandfamily.

And so, the creation of the book was no longer an idea, but a plan. Since the beginning, Barbara had shown a keen interest to collect tenant stories on behalf of NCCH, and therefore, she was chosentoundertakethismammothtask.Beforelong,anitemwas placed in our Newsletter calling for any tenants who might be interested in having their stories told, and we promoted the projectateveryTenantForum.

Over a three-year period, Barbara travelled up and down the northcoastofNewSouthWalesgatheringinformation,andmade many new friends in the process. This book is the culmination of Barbara’s fervour, fortitude and commitment, and it showcases the tenants’ interesting lives and times as they travelled ’From There To Here’ to become part of the North Coast Community Housingcommunity.

John McKenna Chief Executive Officer

The idea of creating a collection of tenant stories started when a friend (and Tenant Councillor), Dolores Close, showed me a copy ofabooktitled 1,001 Life Story Questions writtenbyBobMitchell. The book offered many practical tips for writing life stories, including how to ask the right questions to trigger memories of the various stages of people’s lives. I was keen to write my own lifestory,soIboughtthebooktohelpmedoso.

At a Tenant Council Meeting one day, I showed the book to JohnMcKenna,Chief Executive OfficerofNorthCoastCommunity Housing, and weboth came to the conclusion that it would make anamazingprojectifoneofourtenantsweretowritelifestories about other tenants. To set the wheel in motion, John organised forBobMitchelltospeakata workshopinByronBay,andIsoon foundmyselftobethatpersontowritetheirstories.

Andso,theprojectbegan.Ithasbeenawonderfulandfulfilling experience for me to visit with various tenants and record their life stories. Some of us had never met before, but now we are friends.ThisprojecthadtakenmuchlongerthanIanticipated,but the rewards are many, because all their stories are heartwarming. As you will read, From There To Here openly shares their journeys from where they came from to where they are today. It was also my hope that this book will help to dispel any misconceptions that exist about community housing. It is often assumed that only certain types of people need such accommodation,butourstorieswillrevealthat wecomefromall walksoflife.

I hope you enjoy reading about these wonderful people as muchasIenjoyedgettingto knowthemandputtingtheirstories together.

Barbara Waters Tenant & Tenant Councillor

ALIZA

Iam a tenant of North Coast Community Housing, and I am ninety-sevenyearsold.My story began when I was born in Ballarat, Victoria. My father was Head Detective of Victoria and he also had a sheep and cattle farm on the Peninsula, south of Melbourne. Our family was made up of doctors, ministers, architectsandschoolprincipals.

Two sets of my grandparents lived in Australia. One of my grandfathers, a sawmiller, was persuaded by his cousin to come to Australia. My other grandparents arrived in 1939 on the first ship that docked in Melbourne Harbour. Eventually, they were in the business of building buggies, and apparently, that business still exists today. To complement their line of work,theywerealsofarriers.

I had been the only grandchild for a long while, so I was a much loved granddaughter. I recall having the privilege of going out in the Rolls Royce of the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, justattheendoftheFirstWorldWar.

Life was good during the 1920’s, but everything changed when the Depression hit in the 1930’s. Like many nations aroundthe world, Australia facedpoverty, unemploymentand opportunities for economic growth were lost. However, my father worked seven days a week and he still managed to providewellforhisfamily.

Having been steered away from nursing once I left school, I openedmyowndressshopduring1935inCaulfieldatthevery young age of eighteen. My shop sold clothes of a very good class,suchasdesignsfromElsaSchiaparelli,aprominentfigure in fashion between the two world wars; and Edward Henry Molyneux, a leading British fashion designer. Our line of fashionwassoldtotheelitesectionofsociety,anditbecamea very successful business. I myself have always had a great appreciation for fine clothes. In 1937, I made my debut at CaulfieldTownHall.

Sometime later we moved to my father’s farm on the Mornington Peninsula, south-east of Melbourne. The property wasonalakewithanassortmentofvegetablesandfruittrees. It also included sheep, cattle and ducks, and our father would killourownlambsandduckstofeedhisfamily.Wewerevery fortunate because all our loyal customers from Caulfield followedustothenewshop.

My younger days were fun and carefree. My cousin and I oftenwentsnowskiingatMountBuffalo,andweloveddancing to Victor Sylvester music. In those days, young people drove theirparents’car,andIdrovemyfather’s8-cylinderAmerican model, the Marmon, which I used to double declutch. At the EssendonFlyingSchool,IflewwithHughieBondandweoften performed the loop the loop. My boyfriend at the time flew withMaxHollyman,whosefatherstartedhisownairline.

Eventually,wegotmarriedwhichwasjustbeforetheSecond World War began. My father-in-law was a ‘big noise’ in bridge construction andhe builtthe PuntRoadBridge, the Centenary BridgeontheYarra,andalsotheVictoriapier.Intime,ourson wasborn.

Thewarimpactedoneveryone’slives.Wesoonlostourmaid and nursemaid because they had to go to war. My son wound up going to boarding school while my mother and I worked hard to keep the dress shop going. Over time though, my husbandandIweredivorced.

Some years later, I allowed a man to convince me to get married a second time. My second husband and I lived at Mount Eliza on two acres of land. He and his friends were

wasters, and he was also a whiskey drinker (although I didn’t knowthat).FortenlongyearsItoleratedanunhappylifewith him. The only good that came out of the marriage was giving birthtomydaughter.Iwascontinuouslybashed,butkeptitto myself because I didn’t want anyone to know—but they did know.Mybodywaspermanentlydamagedfromhisbeatings partofmystomachisagainstmylung,while one kidneyisup, andtheotherkidneyisdown.

Althoughhe wasa good provider, the doctor saidtome one day: ‘Do you want to be killed?’ So I left, and vowed that I’d neverhaveanothermanagain,andIkeptthatpromise.

In 1952, my parents moved to Banora Point. My mother suffered with bronchitis regularly due to the cold climate in Victoria, so my father bought a banana plantation in the hope that my mother’s health would improve in the warmer weather.However,myfatherlaterdiedandmymothermoved backtoVictoriaandlivedwithmydaughterandme.Wehada lovely time together, and we often went holidaying in a caravan.MymotherwassogenerousthatshegavemeaJaguar car.

However, our circumstances significantly changed when we lost a lot of money to solicitors. Yet we were still able to keep up appearances, just like Hyacinth in the British comedy, Keeping Up Appearances, and we were fortunate to have a few goodfriends.

Oneday,Iwasworkingoutabusinessdealwitharealestate agent, but felt there was something I didn’t like about him. Somethingwasn’tright.Evenmymothersaid:'Yes,hehasgota hollow laugh.' We went down the road to see him as we were lookingtobuyalargepieceoflandwithaviewtodividingitup later. As we came out of his office, we ran into one of father’s old detective colleagues. He asked if I was doing any business withthisman.

’Yes, we are as a matter of fact.’ I replied. We moved to a more private spot where he put his hand into his wallet and pulledoutsomenewspapercuttings.

’Iwantyoutolistentome.Thismanhasservedtimeinevery state. He’s not a good man to be doing business with,’ he

warnedus.Wetookthedetective’sadviceandimmediatelygot our money back. Shortly after, he was caught once again. He was about to get involved with a wealthy widow, marry her, andthenabscondwithallhermoney.

I have been in my home for twenty years now. I have been happy here and North Coast Community Housing has treated me very respectfully over the years. At ninety-seven, I still enjoy life and cooking good food. My friends come by and we oftenhavebuffetdinnerstogether,eitheroutonthepatioorin myloungeroom.

Lifeisgood.

BARBARA

Iwas born in Cronulla, Sydney, in 1936. I was the second of five childrenasmymotherjust adored babies. My brother, Robert, was born first and I came along two years later. Then there was a gap of three years before three more childrenarrived.

My father was an electrician and had a shop in the heart of town. He built a lovely two-storey home on the sandhills of North Cronulla, and we moved in during 1937. Our home was situated on two large blocks of land that faced north-east, overlookingtheoceananduptothebeach.

My father’s mother and unmarried sister lived with us too. Granny Waters loved me and taught me to knit, sew, read and write before shediedwhen Iwasfiveor six. Intypical styleof the times, where children were shielded from the realities of life, Granny Waters just simply vanished one day with no explanation. Confused and missing her terribly, it was a significantchangeinmylife.That’swhenItooktoreading.

Growinguponthebeachinthosedayswaswonderful,andI have always cherished those memories. We had loads of fun making sandcastles that would last for days, dressing up in seaweed, and performing swimming ‘shows’ in the pool. My father had always loved Esther Williams’ films, and I would imagine I was her, a synchronised swimmer, diving into the centre of the group. Before long, we also learned how to surf, andhowtorecognisewheretheripswere,andnotoncedidwe findourselvesin trouble. We wouldwander asfar assixmiles upthebeach,playinthesandhills,andtheonlyruleswehadin

those days were: ‘Be at home by twelve-thirty for lunch,’ and, ‘Beathomeatfive-thirtybeforeyourparentsarrivehomefrom theshop.’

WhenIwasquiteyoung,mybrotherwasfascinatedwhenhe sawherdsofhorsesonedaygallopingpastontheroadbehind us, and up towards the sandhills. We later discovered that a filmwasbeingmadetitled,’40,000Horsemen’.Aschildren,the notion ofseeing40,000horsemen wasveryexciting!Curiosity gotthebetterofus,soonedaywecreptquietlyuptothetopof a sandhill ... but what we saw across the sand was very disappointing; there were not 40,000 horsemen, there were only two hundred and twenty! That experience made me cynicalofmoviesforlife.

I attended a small private school that was run by three unmarried sisters. One took kindergarten, another took primaryandthethirdsistertookhighschool.Therewereonly approximately ten children in primary, and we sat around a large table. Miss Louche taught us up to the twenty times tables,Englishpoemsandsongs,andhowtospellreallywell.

WhenIwastenyearsold,myparentsmovedmetoCronulla PublicSchool anotherbigchangeforme.Whatadifferenceit was to be in a class of nearly thirty children, and such a large school!Ourteacherwasamazedbymymathematicability,and for that, she would give me an early mark and send me home with an apple. That didn’t help when trying to establish new friendships. Later that year, we were required to do an IntelligenceTest.Threegirls,includingmyself,didverywellin thattest,soweweresenttoanOpportunityClassatHurstville. To attend that school, itmeant travelling thirtyminutes in the train each way. But I didn’t mind,as we were very lucky to be given that education going to the Art Gallery and symphony concerts,andtakingpartinmanydifferentclasses.

As I matured, I then went to St. George Girls’ High School at Kogarah. I was in the A class and enjoyed learning languages such as French, Latin and German, along with all my other classes. I was very shy in those days, which I put down to the loss of my grandmother, and changing schools several times. ButIwasfortunatetohavesomelovelyfriends.

We went to the local Anglican Sunday school and church where my grandmother had played the organ. Although my father never went to church; he had grown up in Summer Hill andattendedTrinityCollege,andfelthe’dhadenoughreligion inhislife.

A new Sunday school teacher started one year who suggested we perform in a stage play for the end of the year. Thatplaywas Cinderella.IwaschosenforthepartofCinderella and my female cousin was selected for the role of Prince Charming. Itwasmarvellous!We made a tripintothe cityand hired beautiful ball gowns, and I will never forget standing on the stage singing ’Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ as the finale. Thatwasamajorachievementforashylittlegirl.

Overtheyears,manyholidaymakershadusedoursidefence to tie up their tents, or washed their babies under our garden tap,andby1951,myfatherhadgrowntiredofit.Itwastimeto move away, so he built a beautiful three-storey waterfront home at Burraneer Bay. This was where I learned to sail a Vaucluse Junior (VJ) and am now a founding member of BurraneerBayVJSailingClub.Wehadmanyfriendsaroundthe waterfront,andwewouldgofromhousetohouse.Itwasavery carefreeandfunlifestyle.

During our third year at high school, we were informed about university for career opportunities. I went home and asked Dad what I could do if I were to go to university. He suggested the Arts, but I didn’t believe I was artistic enough, andwasgivennoexplanationastowhatthatmightinvolve.So Iaskedhim:’WhatwouldIdoafterthat?’

’You could enrol in a secretarial course and become a secretary,’ Dad replied. Pondering on that advice, I couldn’t understand why I would spend all that time studying at university only to become a secretary in the long run. So after getting my Intermediate Certificate at the end of Year 9, I applied and was accepted into Sydney Technical College SecretarialSchool.

Thatwasagreatexperience!Thetravelinvolvedonehourby traintoCentralStation,andthenawalkdowntotheTechnical College in Harris Street (now Sydney University of

Technology). I made friends from all over Sydney, and I even boughta pair ofslacks!Nice girlsdidn’tactuallywear pantsin thosedays.

Attheendoftheyear,Ifoundajobworkingforasolicitorin CastlereaghStreet.Whataneducationthatwas.Inthosedays,a divorce was granted only if a spouse was caught in the act of infidelity. The other junior secretary, Lynne, and I listened to the many reports our boss dictated into a Recordon machine whichwewouldthenhavetotranscribe.Thestoriesofpeople’s troubles opened our eyes to a whole new world, and I soon foundmyselflearningagreatdealaboutlifeandrelationships.

But life at home couldn’t have been better. We had many friends around the bay, and had some great times sailing and surfing at weekends, which were often followed by a party at someone’shome.Therewasalwayssomeonetovisit.

When I was eighteen, I joined the Younger Set of the Royal Motor Yacht Club of Port Hacking, and met many more young people.TheCommodore’swifehadoncebeenadancerandshe soon had us put on shows. We performed in the South Pacific andthe Arabian Nights.Wealsodancedandsangfortheother membersoftheclub.Itwasgreatfun.Ballswerealsoheld,and wegirlswoulddressupinlovelydresses.Mymotherhadonce been a dressmaker, and I have many photos of me at the balls wearingherbeautifulcreations.

Afteracoupleofyearsofworkingforthesolicitor,Ileftand became secretary to the Wool Manager of a large wool company,Grazcos(Graziers'Co-operative).Thiscompanydealt in classing small lots of wool into bigger lots, with a view to gain more money for the graziers. I really loved that job. My bosswasawonderfulmantoworkfor,andnowIwasworking withandforcountrypeople.

I sat beside Brian in the office, and before long, I fell in love withhim.Wedatedfortwoyearsorsountilhewastransferred to the Dubbo office and we could only keep in touch by letter and phone. My sister and her boyfriend were kind enough to drive me to Dubbo to visit him one Easter. Later, Brian was transferredonceagain,butthistimetotheirAlburyoffice,and mykindbossorganisedformetoswapwithagirlinthesame

positionintheMelbourneofficeforthreemonths,soIcouldbe closertoBrian.

I flew to Melbourne and booked myself in at the YWCA at Elwood, where I shared a room with a lovely young woman from Yarrawonga. This was my first time living away from home,andIenjoyedthenewexperience.Idyedmyhairred(it hadalwayshadareddishtinge)andIattendedpublicdances somethingIwasneverallowedtodoathome.

AfterthreemonthsIwenthomeformytwenty-firstbirthday. Wejusthadasmallfamilygathering,andBriancameupforthe weekend also. Five weeks later, Brian returned to tell me that hehadbeenlearningtofly,andthathehadjustbeenaccepted tojointheFleetAirArm.Thatmeanthewouldhavetoleaveto studyinEnglandforthreeyears,buthefeltitwasunfairtoask me to commit to him for that long. And then Brian simply walked out of my life. I was devastated! At a time when many girls were travelling toEngland to workas secretaries, I could easilyhavedonethattoo,butunfortunately,ithadn’toccurred tomeatthetime.

Several weeks after Brian left, my father came in from choppingwoodonaSundayafternoon. Mumwascuttingouta dressformeonthediningroomtablewhenDadsaid:‘I’vegota pain in my chest. I’ll just go upstairs and lie down.’ Mum continuedthetaskofcuttingfabric,butshortlyafterdecidedto go up and check on him. But when she reached Dad, she discoveredthathehadpassedaway.He’dhadamassivestroke andhewasonlyfifty-five.

Inonlysixweeks,IlostthemanIexpectedtomarry,andmy fatherwhomIloved,andwholovedme.Twosignificantmales in my life ... suddenly gone. I now realise that the loss of both men, and the death of my grandmother, impacted greatly on my emotional wellbeing. Somehow it changed me, making it verydifficultformetomaintainafulfillingrelationship.

Nine months later, I went on a skiing weekend at Kiandra with old friends from the Motor Yacht Club. That was where I met Denis who had just moved up from Melbourne. We dated for a while and then he proposed. Because I was now twenty-

two,IwasafraidofbeingleftontheshelfifIdidn’tgetengaged, soIsaid’Yes’.

NowthatIhadamaninmylife,Idecidednottotravelallthe waytothecityforwork,andfoundmyselfajobasasecretary to the Construction Manager for the expansion of the Caltex Refinery at Kurnell. It was a very interesting job and my boss made sure thatI wasalwaysinformedofwhat wasgoingon. I lovedworkingin the sandhills,withonlya five-mile commute. It was my job to phone the Weather Bureau each afternoon at four o’clock to check on next day’s weather forecast, and pity help me if I got it wrong, when a huge tank, or the like, was being lifted. This task bred in me a real understanding of weatherpatterns.

Denis and I married in April 1960, and we lived downstairs inMum’shouse.Later,when Mumsoldthehouse,werenteda flatandsoonafter,weboughtasmalltimberhousewithatoilet outtheback.In1962,myfirstchild,Sue,wasbornthereandI managedtopushthe large pram all the waytoCronulla shops untilIlearnedhowtodrive.Denis’sparentshadretiredandhis mother gave me her little Morris car. In 1964, I was pregnant with my second child and my parents-in-law had bought a lovely unit right on the beach at South Cronulla. They weren't sureiftheywouldlikelivinginthatunit,sotheyofferedtorent us their nice home close to town until their minds were made up.Thatwaswhereourson,Simon,wasborn.

My husband didn’t feel Cronulla was good enough, and in 1966, we moved to Sydney’s North Shore. Living there was an entirelynewlifeinmanyways.Ienjoyedgardeninginournew home, andin February1967, Igave birthtoanother daughter, Vanessa.

Unfortunately though, things were not rosy between Denis and me. He was drinking every night after work and wouldn’t come home until seven o’clock at night. To make it worse, he played golf on Saturday mornings and then slept in the afternoon.Webarelyspentqualitytimetogetheranditseemed thatweweredriftingapart.

I started doing yoga in 1964 and loved it. It was during the earlydaysofyoga,andIwaslearningfromthethirdteacherin

Australia.Theentireworkoutgavemeanewinsightintolife.I continued my yoga practice when we moved to the North Shore,andeventuallyranaclassofmyownatafriend’shouse. I also learned to spin and dye wool, and made good money from selling my jumpersand shawls at the Wentworth Hotel’s giftshop.

Lifecontinuedfor someyearsandall three children were at schoolwhenIfinallyrealisedthatourmaritaldifferenceswere affecting the children too. The catalyst occurred in 1975 that finally made me decide to leave the marriage. Strangely, it seemed to me at the time that it would be better for my husband to stay in the house and find himself a housekeeper, and I be the one to move out and have the children every second weekend. He couldn’t cook at all, so I thought that wouldbeeasierforhimthancopinginaflatonhisown.

Denis agreed to that arrangement and I left, finding a share flat in Kirribilli. I found a job as secretary to an acoustic consultantinNorthSydney.Thefollowingyear,myex-husband met and married a widow with two younger children of her own, and together, they bought a large house in Pymble. That waswhenoursituationbecamedifficultforusall.Hisnewwife didn’t want to form a friendship with me, and the children found it difficult to go from one home to another. To help me deal with the pain of the marriage breakdown and the complicated circumstances, a friend sent me to a personal development class, and I continued with this work for years afterwards,bothlearning,andthenteaching.

WantingtobekindtoDenisandourchildrentominimisethe stress,Ionlyaskedforasettlementof$5000frommyhusband, and the judge made certain that I was satisfied with the outcome.

Around this time, I met a man who had worked as an engineerattherefinery.HewasactuallyayachtdesignerandI methimonafriend’syacht.Wefellinloveandbegananewlife together. In fact, he told me that he’d fallen in love with me when he came to be interviewed for the job, in 1958. I never knew.OurrelationshipwasverydifferenttotheoneIhadwith Denis.LenandIhadsomuchincommon aloveofsurf,boats,

sailing, reading and music. Len had grown up in Cronulla too, but he was eleven years older than me. He had learnt morse codefrommyfatherduringthewar,andIhadknownhisfather whohadbeenthelocalpolicesergeant.

Lentaughtmetosurfonanold10ftMalSurfboard(Dadhad never allowed me to be friends with surfies), and we had wonderfultimessailingtogetheronfriends’yachts.Ineverdid getseasickasIwasinmyelement.

In 1978, I did a numerology course which I thoroughly enjoyed. Because of my interest in numbers, the ideas came easily, and I have since written my own book titled, ’Simply Numbers’, and later sold five hundred copies. That same year, we launched a yacht of 18 feet that we rebuilt from a lifeboat that Len had found on a friend’s property on the Hawkesbury River.Itwasmadeofteakandweappliedfibreglassinsideand out. A cabin was built and Len designed a slanting mast so we could let it down. He was also busy with designing ferrocement yachts, and we would go to a concreting day to help out.Itwasagreatexperience!

Len and I bought fifty-two acres of land on Jamberoo Mountain in 1978, and paid $16,000. It was an amazing block, northfacingwithtwoacresofflatlandonthetop,andamileof rainforest under the escarpment. We went to the property every second weekend and constructed a small shack and a shed;dugoutadamwhichwethenconcreted;andthenaftera fewyears,webroughtintworemovableschoolrooms onefor Len’sofficeandoneasourtemporaryhome.

We moved in during 1983 and had a wonderful life living simply with wood stoves, kerosene lamps and a generator to runthepumpsothatwatercouldbepumpedoutfromthedam to the shower. At that time, I worked in Bowral for another solicitor.

After living there for a few years, our relationship began to deteriorate. Len kept dreaming about more boats, and neglecting to move forward with planning and building our biggerhouse.Whenthingsdidn’timprove,Ifinallylefthimand movedbacktothenorthernbeachesofSydney.Wecametoan agreement that I would be paid $30,000 as my share of the

property. But a friend who bought the one acre lot from us could only afford to pay $10,000 a year. Sadly, I didn’t invest themoneyatthetime,becauseIcouldn’timaginemyselfliving inaunit.

IfoundaroominahouseatWhaleBeach.Afterworkingasa temporary secretary for a short while, I happened to come across an advertisement seeking an editorial secretary for the AustralianBoatingMagazine whichwaslocatedin Avalon.Len hadworkedwiththismagazinequitealotinthepast,soIknew theeditorsfairlywell.Thatsamenight,Ihadmyinterviewwith theboss,andIstartedthefollowingweek.

It was the best job! Peter had never had a secretary who knew so much about sailing, and who also had a very good understanding of various boat designs. For years, we had a great time working together. He couldn’t afford to pay me overtime, but when a deadline was due, I would work nights andweekendstogettheworkdone,andthenhavethetimeoff later. The office wasabove the shopsinAvalon,witha viewto the beach from the boss’s office. Heaven! I would go surfing at lunchtime,andwearjeansandT-shirttowork,whichwasonly athreeminutedrivefromhome.

In 1987, I heard about a travel company that offered great trekstoNepal, andthe EverestBaseCamptrek. Itlooked very exciting so I decided to make the trip, and what a marvellous experience that was! I stayed in Kathmandu for a week to acclimatisetoits3,000feetaltitude,andthentostartthetrek, we flew into Lukla which is situated at over 9,000 feet. There were only five of us from various parts of the world, and we lost one chap to altitude sickness at about 11,000 feet. But we trekkedon,overbeautifulvalleysandupterrifyingslopes,until our last camp at 16,500 feet, where it was very hard to sleep. The next day we walked to Kala Pattar, a notable landmark next to the Base Camp, and that was at 18,350 feet! My diary reminds me that we walked ‘one step, one breath’ as the air wassothin.Justbeingtherewasalife-changingexperiencefor me. I have a photo of myself and the head Sherpa, with the snow blowing off Mount Everest in the background, and it alwaysremindsmeofwhatittooktogetthere.

I then met a man whohad written a story for the magazine. He phonedtoenquire aboutthe paymentforhisstorywhen it wastobepublished,atwhichpointIpromisedhimI’dsendthe cheque on Friday. He was most impressed when the cheque arrivedonMonday,consideringthatmanypublishershadsaid, ’the cheque is in the mail’, but then not turn up. We became friends and soon formed a partnership. In 1989, we visited an oldfriendofmineontheFarNorthCoastofNewSouthWales, and fell in love with the area. My partner bought a small propertythere,butsadly,thatdidn’tworkoutafteracoupleof years;howeverIremainedupnorth.

I started a group at Bangalow for women who had moved awayfromtheirfamiliesandwerefindingitdifficult—asIwas. I then created an exercise course which I named, Bodyscape, whichinvolvedlittlebodymovementandpositiveaffirmations. Afterawhile,ImadeadecisiontotakethiscoursetoSydney.I moved to Balmoral after staying with friends, and taught it on theNorthShore.Whilethere,Imetaladywhohadheardabout the Maleny Festival in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, and we wenttoworkatthefinalfestivalinMaleny,forChristmas/New Year of 1993/94. Helen read palms while I offered tarot card readings. It was great fun and I fell in love with Maleny, and wantingtogetoutofthe cityagain,Imovedthere fora year.I continued my Bodyscape classes and subsequently made a videoofit.

Butintheend,Malenyprovedtobetoofarfrommyfamilyin Sydney,soImovedbacktonorthernNewSouthWales,sharing houses,livingingrannyflats,andcontinueddoingnumerology forpeople.IwentfromlivinginAlstonvilletoacaravanparkat Chinderah,andmanyplacesinbetween.

While living in East Ballina, I heard about North Coast CommunityHousing(NCCH)fromafriendwhoknewsomeone thatworkedintheoffice.Iputmynamedownformuchneeded accommodation.

Then Murwillumbah called to me, with its beauty of Mount Warning nearby, the Border Ranges and the Tweed River. I loved it, and I moved into a flat near town. One day, the manager of the local NCCH office phoned to verify that I was

still eligible for housing, but it wasn’t until the next day that I realised why she had contacted me the day before when she rang and said: ’Would you like to see the place we’ve got for you?’Idroveouttohavealookattheduplexwithafriendand wassoexcited!Iloveditandmovedintwodayslater.

Itwasa tremendousrelieftofinallyhavea placeofmyown afterallthoseyearsofmoving.Mynewhomehaslotsofroom for a garden, anda scenicviewtothe Border Ranges. Igrowa variety of vegetables, and have papaw, fig and mulberry trees thatgivemelotsoffruit.

On my application, I had written that if I were given a place ofmyown,Iwouldwanttodoquitealotofvolunteerworkto pay back the privilege. Istarted off by doing Meals on Wheels, but didn’t like being tied down with that. I then heard about Tweed, Byron & Ballina Community Transport and happily workedforthemforovertenyearsasavolunteerdriver.Ialso joined the local U3A, where I worked on the committee for a fewyears,aswellasteachingnumerologyand Bodyscape.

Another love has been working as a local contact for the Wrap with Love Foundation, where we either knit or crochet ten inchsquaresandmake them intorugsthatgotopeoplein need all over the world. I presently have a group in MurwillumbahandanotheratBanoraPoint,aswellashelping ladies at a supported living facility in Tweed. My friend, Judi, andIstarteditaboutnineyearsago,anditwasonlyfiveyears ago when I started to keep track of how many rugs we were sending to Sydney the count is now over 1,400 rugs! It’s wonderful to sit quietly, worn out after gardening, mowing or anyother‘work’,andjustknitorcrochetsquares,knowingthat one day they will become rugs and help to keep many people warm peoplewewillnevermeet.

Two years ago, a friend and I embarked on a ten day Kimberley to Darwin trek; we were only a small group. It was wonderful! I fell in love with the red soil and the amazing gorges, and especially the beach at Broome. I can’t get the imageoutofmyhead,andIam currentlysavingto gobackas soonaspossible.

Sadly,Idon’tseemuchofmychildren.Mytwodaughterslive inSydney,andbothhavejobsthatkeepthembusy;andmyson movedtoNewZealandthree yearsagosothathiswife,a New Zealander, could be closer to her family. But they make me proud as they all grew up to be lovely people. All three have two children each, whom I get to see as often as possible. So withoutmyfamilycloseby,Ihavehadtocreatea’family’here. In2006,tenantswereinvitedtoformaTenantCouncil.That reallyinterestedme,soIapplied.It’ssosatisfyingbeingableto help people who have various concerns or problems, and working in partnership with management of North Coast CommunityHousingto sortout thoseproblems.Aspartof my ‘giving back’, I have worked on our Tenant Council since it began, and being involved with the tenants has been a wonderfulexperience,eventhoughitkeepsmequitebusy.And now I am writing their stories, which for me, has been the greatestprivilege.

I have been in my lovely unit for eleven years now the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere since I first left home to get married. Throughout my life, I have lived in forty-one places andinfourstates,soitiswonderfultobe home,atlast.

BELLE

My mother and her family came from a small town in Victoria called Wandong, and my father was born in Finland. During the Second World War, he arrived in Australiaonamerchantship and was put into a prisoner of war camp because the Finns were at war with the Russians. Eventually, he was released to work with the Victorian Forestry Commission. My maternal grandfatherwasworkingattheCommissionatthetime,andhe couldn’t help but feel compassion for this young Finnish man whowasa longwayfrom home, sohetookhimhome tomeet hiswifeanddaughter.Mymotherhadearlierlostherfiancéin the war, and when they met, romance soon blossomed, and theyweremarriednotlongafter.

I was born in 1945, just before the war was declared over. My sister arrived two years later. By this time my father had returned to sea as a merchant seaman, but when I was about four years old, he rejoined the Forestry Commission, snigging logsinthebush.

We moved to a remote area called Koala Creek, near Marysville, and our new home was a two-roomed hut with no modcons.Water hadtobe carriedfrom thenearbycreek.The outside toilet was the long-drop style. My mother cooked in a camp oven on an open fire, and boiled the washing in a kerosene tin. In winter, I remember building snowmen after a heavy fall. Life was simple back then, and my mother had

always told us how happy she had been during that time, and myloveofthebushbeganthen,too.

Afewyearslater,wemovedtoMorwellintheLatrobeValley where brown coal mining was all the rage. Many immigrants had come there during the fifties because there was plenty of work available. At first, we lived on-site beside an open cut mineinacaravanwithalean-to.Myfatherdroveabulldozerat the time. Because of the influx of migrants, the Housing Commission built many new homes in town and we soon movedintooneofthem,andbythen,myfatherhadanewjob asatradesmanhousepainter.

Ournewhousewaslovelyandwehadaproperyardtoplay in. The open fireplace in the lounge room was the gathering place on cold winter nights. I have many fond memories of sitting around watching the fire while listening to the radio withmyfamily. My mother wouldlight the fire on coldwinter morningssothatwecoulddressinthewarmth.MysisterandI wenttothelocalprimaryschoolforaboutfourorfiveyears.It was so interesting to meet kids of many different nationalities and learning about their cultures. They were good times and I wasveryluckytohavehadahappychildhood.

Our next move was in 1956, to a small town called Alexandra, near the Eildon Weir, where my father was now drivingtrucks.ThatwastheyeartheOlympicGameswereheld in Melbourne, and it was all very exciting. We followed the games religiously and I created a day-by-day scrapbook of all theevents.TheswimmersweremyheroesandAustraliadidso wellintheGames.SoitisnosurprisethatmysisterandIwere such water babies and we would spend all our summer holidaysatthelocalswimmingpool anditdidkeepusoutof mischief.

Thefollowingyear,wemovedtoToowoombainQueensland. Itwasahugemove.Wesoldupeverythingandstartedallover again. My father went into business for himself as a house painter. My sister and I were enlisted to help with the preparation and painting during the school holidays and soon pickedupafewtricksofthetrade.

My parents then bought an old two bedroom timber house with a sleep-out, three huge old palm trees growing at the front, and a rose garden at the side. Again, my mother didn’t have many modern appliances: she cooked on a wood stove, heated water in the copper for the bath and also boiled the washing in it. My father’s white overalls were always spotless. These days, we have it so easy with automatic washing machines and dryers. The Sunday roast dinners cooked in the woodstoveoventastedamazingandMum’sapplepieswereto diefor.

MysisterandIownedbicycleswhichwerodetoschooland we rode them anywhere and everywhere in our leisure time. Some days we would be gone all day exploring, and we would light a fire to cook our lunch. Girl Guides training came in handy,andIdidlovethecampingtrips.

At fifteen, I left school when I was offered a job as a dental nurseandIworkedthere foracoupleofyears.Jobswerevery easy to come by back then. My wage was five pounds and ten shillingsaweekanditfeltgreattobeearningmyownmoney.I was soon in a position to buy myself a Singer sewing machine onhirepurchaseandstartedmakingmyownclothes.

Thiswasawonderfuleraforme.Itwasthebeginningofthe sixties and rock-and-roll influenced my life greatly. My sister andIweremadaboutmodernmusicandbegancollectingvinyl recordswhichwe playedloudlyon ourportableturntable. We would pin up record covers on the walls as posters weren’t readily available then. Picture theatres and the local dances were popular places for young people to go to. Reading has always been a favourite pastime of mine, especially since we didn’t have television until I was about sixteen. I also rememberwhenhulahoopswerethelatestcrazeandIbecame quitegoodatusingone.Ican’tdoitnow,though.

Beforelong,ImetaboyandwestartedgoingsteadywhenI was sixteen. Being naive about the facts of life, I accidentally fellpregnantandwasmarriedatseventeen.Myhusbandwasa carpenter just finishing his apprenticeship at the age of nineteen when we married, andI, a youngmother ateighteen, later gave birth to our first son, Steve, in 1963. In those days,

having a baby out of wedlock was considered a disgrace, and my mother always worried about what the neighbours would think.

Around this time, my father’s business was failing, so he wentbacktoseaandworkedasaship’scarpenteronanumber ofSwedishmerchantvessels.Afterhehadgoneonafewtrips, my mother decided to join him and became a stewardess, and travelled outside Australia for the first time in her life. My sister also joined our parents to work on the ships once she turnedsixteen.Iwasratherenvious,becauseIwasmissingout onseeingtheworld,butmybabykeptmebusy andhewasso cute.

When Steve began kindergarten, I found a job as a graphic artist where I designed the lettering for clothing labels at a local firm. Being a stay-at-home Mum wasn’t fulfilling enough, soIdidenjoymywork.Iwasveryfortunatetohavethehelpof my mother-in-law who loved looking after her grandson wheneveritwasneeded.Aroundthistime,wehadlivedintwo flatsandahouseinToowoomba.

The Gold Coast during the sixties was very different from what it is today, and it was a great holiday destination for families. Many a time we travelled to the Gold Coast for a weekendandrentedabeachshackclosetothebeach nothing glamorous but affordable and comfortable. Eventually, we decidedtomovetoMermaidBeachon theGoldCoastin 1969, andthatwaswheremysecondson,Mark,wasbornin1970.

In1971,wemovedbacktoToowoombaandboughtourown home, and I had a wonderful time painting and decorating it. Vivid colours like lime green and bright orange were all the rageinthosedays.

WhenMarkstartedpreschool,Iwasofferedajobasasewing machine demonstrator in a shop called Sewcraft, and worked thereforseveralyears.Mysewinghadimprovedovertime,and I was soon making most of my own clothes and the children’s aswell.Iboughtmyfirstcaratthistime:a1975HoldenTorana whichIcalled Maxine,anditlastedforthenextthirtyyears.

However, my marriage had not been going well for some time, soin the end,I leftmy husband and moved out with our

children.Wemarriedfartooyoung,andunsurprisingly,wehad grownapart;myhusbanddranktoomuchandIsimplywanted moreoutoflife.

During this time in my life, I was living with my parents as myfatherhadhadastrokewhilstatsea,andthatputastopto myparents’seafaringlife.Thestrokehadcausedhimparalysis downtherightsideofhisbody,andmyfatherhadalsolosthis ability to speak. When he died a year or so later, it was incredibly sad; he was never going to recover, and you could see in his eyes how much he hated being the way he was. He wasonlyfifty-five.

My sister had also married over the years and started a family of her own. But now, she too had separated from her partner,andsheandhertwochildrencametolivewithusina beautiful large old house, where my mother and I were taking careofthepetsownedbypeoplewhowereawayforayearand a half. We paid very little rent, and although we were still mourning my father’s death, it was a fun time. My sister and I often went out to listen to bands, and to dance. While our motherwasmorethanhappytolookafterthegrandchildren,I do remember sneaking into the house so she wouldn’t know how late we came home. The other good memory I have is whenthewholefamilywatchedCountdownontelevisionevery Sunday.

After my divorce came through in 1976, I won a ten day holiday to the United States through my job as a sewing machinedemonstrator.ThetripwasatouroftheWestCoastof America, andthatwasmyfirsttaste ofoverseastravel. Iloved it, and I wanted more. Two years later, everything changed whenweleftthathouseoncetheownersreturned.Mymother moved back to Melbourne and my sister went back to her husband.

In 1978, I decided to further my education after having left schoolsoearly.ThankstoGoughWhitlam’sreforms,Iwasable toenrolasamatureagedstudentatDarlingDownsInstituteof AdvancedEducation(nowknownastheUniversityofSouthern Queensland). Not really knowing what to study, I was persuadedtomajorinBehaviouralScience, withVisualArtsas

an option. I really enjoyed the Visual Arts and wished I had chosen to major in that instead. Even though the course was only part-time, I found the first year very hard, however I persevered, and before long, my grades improved. During the second year I studied full-time, but whether I had made the rightchoicewasstillinquestion,butIploddedonnevertheless.

The followingyear, Ihadmeta man andmovedtoBrisbane to be married. But after sharing a house for a time, I soon had secondthoughtsaboutourfutureandcalledoffthewedding a decision I'veneverregretted. Ifounda flatforMarkandme, and began working in a sewing machine shop at the Toombul Shopping Centre; and later worked part-time house cleaning while doing a couple of psychology subjects at Queensland University.Steve,bythistime,wasdoinganapprenticeshipand waslivingwithhisgrandmotherinToowoomba.

Having had a taste of travel which I thoroughly enjoyed the first time, I then organised my second overseas trip to New Caledonia where I stayed at Club Med for a week. It offered somethingdifferenttotheUnitedStatesandIhadawonderful time.

In1982,mybestfriendofferedmeherhouseinToowoomba to take on the role as caretaker—rent free. Steve and his best friend then came to live with us also, and we all had a great time. I taught them to cook and clean considering they were now old enough to pitch in, while I was trying to finish my degree. We all had a very busy social life, often going out together, frequenting the pubs with live music and going to parties.Somewildtimeswerehadbyall.

My girlfriend wanted to move back into her house in 1983, soIdecideditwastimetochangemylifealtogetherandmove away from Queensland, and Steve and his best friend decided to move to the Gold Coast. Having decided to start a new life somewherecompletelydifferent,Iorganisedahugegaragesale and sold most of my possessions, and then moved to Hobart, Tasmania. I found a lovely flat in an old colonial mansion at SandyBay.Therewerefireplacesinthebedroomandtheliving areawhichwerewonderfulforthecoldwinters.

Mark started high school in Hobart and I bought him a bike so he could explore the area, just as my sister and I had done whenwewerechildren.Thebikewasabribereally,becausehe hadn'tbeenaskeentomoveasIwas.Itworked!

IattemptedtofinishmypsychologystudiesattheUniversity of Tasmania, but I hated it and eventually dropped out. Subsequently, I enrolled in a Commercial Restaurant Service courseattheTAFEHospitalityCollegeinstead.Thiscoursewas reallyenjoyable anditledtoa job asa waitressin a newlocal restaurant. The following year, I rented a housing commission flat at Mount Nelson, up the mountain, and next to Mount Wellington.There,IenrolledintheVisualArtsBlackandWhite Photography course at the University of Tasmania Art School, andworkednightswaitressingattheWrestPointCasino.

However, having grown tired of the long cold winters, we decidedtomovebacktoBrisbanein1985,whereIfoundavery run-downflatinanoldthree-storeybuildingintheinnercityof Spring Hill. I could see the potential in it, and knew that renovating it would not be a problem. Doing up my flat was hard work, but it was also great fun painting and decorating, anditlookedamazingwhenIfinishedtwomonthslater.

I then started a course in fashion design at Bald Hills TAFE College.Afterfinishingthecourseinoneyear,myhopewasto get a job in the industry. However, when I did find work, I discovered how cut-throat the business was. So in the end, I decided that aggressive style was not for me, and left not long aftertopursueotherinterests.

Around this time I met a French Canadian man, and we began a ten year on and off relationship that was both passionateandtumultuous.Onceagain,Imovedintoahousing commissionflatinRedHillforawhile,andthenmovedbackto SpringHillintoanoldworker’scottage.Ihadseveralpart-time jobsoverthenextfewyearsinhospitality,retailsalesandasa workshopassistant.IhadalsoaddedafewmoreTAFEcourses to my resume by then, such as, word processing, office skills and screen printing. My sister and I also ran a domestic cleaningagencyforafewyearswhichwasquitesuccessful,but reallyhardwork.

The 1980’s musicscenein Brisbane sawmany international rock stars come over to perform, and I loved going to their concerts, as well as frequenting the local gigs. Many concerts were held in the Festival Hall back then, and it’s a terrible shame that it has been demolished because it was a great venue.

MynextoverseastripwastoThailandwhereIholidayedfor sixweeks.Visitingthiscountrywasarealeye-openerforme itwassodifferentfromwesterncountries.Itwasthefirsttime I had travelled alone for a relatively long period,but I learned to enjoy it even though being in a non-English speaking countrydidprovetobedifficult,attimes.

AtonestageIsecureda jobasthemanagerofacommercial art gallery at Milton during the early 1990’s, and I enjoyed it immensely. But due to the financial climate of the times, business fell off after a while, and the gallery was eventually closed.

In 1993, I completed a course in horticulture at Grovely TAFE.PermaculturewasoneofthesubjectstaughtandIfellin love with its philosophy. The idea of sustainability made so much sense to me. I went to the Crystal Waters Permaculture village near Maleny as part of the course, and witnessed these ideas in action. By now, I had moved again: first to a house in Ashgrove, and later, to another in Coorparoo. I designed my owngardeninlinewiththepermacultureprinciples,anditfelt sogoodtogrowmyownfood.Atthispoint,Iwasworkingfora landscaperwhodesignedJapanesegardens,whichIlearnedso muchabout.Myrolewastomanagetheofficeandalsodosome hands-onlandscaping.

During these years, both my sons came to live with me for certainperiodsoftime.Myyoungestwasstudyingatuniversity and my eldest son would come and go between working in Sydney and Brisbane. My on and off relationship had finally cometoanend,althoughwearestillfriendstoday.

In 1995, my sister and I opened up a second-hand shop in NormanParkfor a yearanda half. The experience wasa huge learning curve finding out about antiques and collectables but incredibly interesting as well. Sourcing goods to sell was

also hard work mainly from garage sales and auctions. And what I do know from that experience is that sanding furniture issomethingIneverwanttodoagain!

By 1997, living in the city had become rather tiresome for me, so I made a decision to move to the country. Wanting to adopt a healthier lifestyle, I was now a practicing vegetarian, and had stopped drinking alcohol although, I was still smoking.Markgraduatedfromuniversityandwasassignedhis firstteachingjob in Horn Island,an islandin the TorresStrait. Havingmadethedecisiontomovetothecountry,Imovedinto a flat at Mullumbimby where I volunteered with the Byron Environment Centre and the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centreandmadesomenewfriends,andlater,ImovedtoOcean Shores.

As I wanted to know more about computing, I then decided tostudyinformationtechnology(IT).ImovedtoBellingenand enrolledatCoffsHarbourTAFEwhereIcompletedaCertificate 3inIT.Afterthat,IwentbacktoBrisbaneandstayedwithmy sister for a while to figure out what to do next, as financially, mysituationwasbecomingdesperate.

Soonafter,IappliedforanofficejobatSeedSaversinByron Bay. My application was successful so I moved back to Ocean Shores in northern New South Wales. My new job entailed runningtheoffice,theseedbankandorganisingthevolunteers. I worked there for over two years and found the whole seed process interesting. However, I still wanted to pursue more computer studies, so I left Seed Savers to do a Certificate 4 at KingscliffTAFE.

I was living in my fourth rental property in Ocean Shores when Steve left Sydney to come and live with me; he was havingafewproblemswithhismentalhealth,andIbecamehis carer for a while. Over time, I encouraged him to return to TAFEtostudyinformation technology—whichhe did—andhe took to it ‘like a duck to water’. This proved to be really good forhim,andthenhebecameinterestedinmusicandbecoming aDJ.

We lived in that house for quite a while until we both concludedthatitwastime togoour separate ways. He moved

toapropertyoutsideMullumbimby,andImovedintoashedon a friend’spropertyinFederal. Itwasnow2004, andrentshad gone throughthe roof, sofindingaffordable placestorenthad become incredibly difficult. I was told that I could stay in the shed for as long as I wanted to, but my friend’s husband became very ill with little likelihood of improvement. In the end, he committed suicide because of his never-ending pain. My friend then realised that it would be too difficult to maintain thepropertyalone,andtherefore, shedecidedtosell it.

This left me homeless for six months as I couldn’t find affordable accommodation anywhere. For the first three months, Mark, who was now teaching at an international school in Guangzhou, China, offered to pay my airfare to Hong Kong,soIspentthistimetouringaroundChinaandVietnam.It wasveryeducational,andIwasfortunatetobeabletoaffordit onmypensionduetothelowercostoflivinginthesecountries.

On my return, a friend offered me a room in her home at Binna Burra where I stayed temporarily for the next three months.IhadappliedforPublicHousingwhenIfirstmovedto Mullumbimby in 1997, but no accommodation had been offered yet, so I later put my name down with North Coast CommunityHousing,andashorttimelater,Imovedintoaunit inGoonellabah.

After moving to my new unit, there were many problems with abusive, inconsiderate and dysfunctional neighbours. I hadabreak-in,solivingtherebecamequitetraumatic.Thebest wayformetocopewastoworkinmylittlegardenwhichmade the madness of everything around me abate somewhat. I also didsomehouse-sittingforfriendsjusttoescapefrommyliving situation,andalsojoinedahouse-sittingorganisation.Through that organisation, I met a lovely couple who went overseas everyyearandIwouldgotoBrisbanetocarefortheirbeautiful home for one month each year. Unfortunately, that doesn’t happenanymoreastheyseparatedandthehousewassold.Ido missgoingthere.

Finally, I quit smoking in 2009, and since then, I have been abletosavelotsofmoneyfortravelwhichismynewpassion.I

hopetogetawayatleastonceayearwhileIamstillabletodo so,andbeforeIbecometoooldanddecrepit.

After putting in for a transfer, it finally came through and I moved into my new place in January 2014. It has made an amazing difference to my wellbeing to live in a place where I feel safe and happy. During my sixty-eight years, I lived in thirty-eight different places across four different states of Australia.ThankyouNorthCoastCommunityHousing.

THE THINGS I LOVE

Cooking

When I went to Thailand in 1990, I returned with a love for Thai food. I bought myself a really good cookbook and proceeded to have amazing dinner parties for ten or twelve people.Iwouldspendtwoorthreedayspreparingthefoodand then invite myfriendsaroundtoshareitwithme. Quite often, myfriendsandIwouldgettogetherforcookingparties.

Reading

Ilovebiographiesandtravelbooks.

Gardening

IcreatedgardensateveryplaceIlivedinsincethebeginningof the1970’ s.

Travelling

AfterlivinginChina,MarkmovedontoworkinCambodia,soI have been to Asia a couple of times visiting Malaysia, Cambodia, Northern Thailand and Laos in 2009 and 2010, as wellasthe2006/2007triptoChinaandVietnam.

Inthelasttwoyears,IhavebeentoNewZealandthreetimes. It’s an easy country to visit, and it is so well organised and perfectlysetupfortourists.

Living alone

These days I am quite happy to live on my own. I’ve come to likemyowncompanyanddon’thavetoanswertoanyoneelse, butIdolovetohavemyfamilyandfriendsovertovisit.

CINDY

A Positive Outlook

Born in Murwillumbah, I grew up in the Tweed Shire. There were six children in our family four sistersandabrother,andIwas the third child. My father was born in this area too and so were his relatives before him. My father had had a few occupations over the years: he had been a trawler skipper at Tweed; he then worked at the Post Office;andlater,hebecameagarbagecollector.

Igrewupwithmanymalecousins,soIwasinvolvedinlots of boy activities, like building cubby-houses and playing cricket; we practically lived on Greenmount Beach, and we swam in whatusedtobe the rear channelofthe TweedRiver. But I also loved to help both my grandmothers cook. Both my grandmothers had a significant influence on me growing up becausemymotherdiedwhenIwasonlythirteenyearsold.

Both Tweed Primary and Tweed River High were the schoolsIattended,butIleftjustbeforeturningfifteenbecause I did not cope well after my mother died. To be permitted to leaveschoolundertheageoffifteen,youhadtosecureajobor else you had to stay. So I managed to get myself a job at the Coolangatta Newsagent. At the same time, I became a ‘sort of’ mother to my youngest sister who was only two years old when Mum died. My two older sisters were already married

when Mum died, so I had no choice but to be responsible, and justgetonwithit.

Living around Tweed, I worked at the old guesthouses: the BeachHouseandGreenmount.Theyofferedmanyjobsoverthe summer holidays, being the peak season, but during winter in thequietseason,theyhadtoreducetheirstaff.Soagroupofus workedallsummeranddidn’tgoouttoomuchtosavemoney, and through the winter, we would go to the beach and enjoy ourselvesastouristsdidinsummer.

Atthe ageoftwenty-two, Ileftthe Tweedtolive inSydney. ShortlyafterImetDave,andbroughthimupalittlewhilelater, asIcouldn’tcopewithSydney itwastoofastpacedandthere were far too many people. I always tell Dave now that he still doesn’t qualify as a local yet, even though he’s lived here for thirty-threeyears.

Dave got himself a job in a paint shop and worked his way uptomanager,andIworkedatafruitshop.Thepaintshopwas eventuallytakenoverbyanothercompany,andhelosthisjob, and he then found a job with Tweed Shire Council. He stayed thereuntil1994whenhebecametoosicktocontinueworking, andIbecamehiscarer.

We did our best to manage on the pension, but that wasn’t easy when renting. We’d move into a place and then the owners would put it on the market, so we were constantly forced to move. We decided to put our names down for a HousingCommissionplaceandthat’swhenwefoundoutabout North Coast Community Housing we’d never heard of it before.

As luck would have it, we had only been waiting for four months when we received a phone call from the manager to requestaletterfromthedoctor.Davewasquiteillatthisstage, and we were only just scraping by. After having a look at the place being offered, we didn’t have to think about it; from the moment we walked in the front door, we said ’Yes’. We have beenlivingherehappilyforoversixyearsandweloveit.

During the last few years Dave has had quite a few trips to hospital,andfortunately,Iwasabletocatchabustovisithim. We had some challenging times when he became illbecause it

took doctors eighteen months to finally work out that he suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome. He had to undergo countlessteststofindoutwhatwasgoingon it’snotaneasy condition to diagnose. Dave had been working at a sewerage farm and tried very hard to keep on working, but he kept having bad turns and found he couldn’t work around the plant’s machinery. So he had to give up work, and we soon foundourselvesonapensionafterafellowatCentrelinkasked: ’Why aren’t you on a disability pension?’ We then moved to NelsonBayinPortStephens.

After two years, we came back to Tweed, and it was soon afterthat,whenwediscoveredthatDavealsohademphysema.

Weliveaveryquietlifenow.Ournewwayoflifetookafair amount of adjusting as I was only in my forties at the time. Luckily, we had no children as I’d had a hysterectomy when I was young. The circumstances surrounding Dave’s health problems would have made it much more difficult if we had childrentocarefortoo.

When Dave is well enough we do what we can: we may go out for lunch, go to the movies, or we may simply go out for coffee. But when he’s not well, thank goodness for television; he loves to watch ABC News 24. Thankfully for me, I have computer games, so if I get news overload, I go upstairs and entertainmyself,orjustread.Actually,Idoalotofreadingand it’s good to have an accommodating library system where we can take books out at one library and return them to another. SowhenDavehasanappointmentwithachroniccarenurseat Kingscliff,Igoofftothelibraryandborrowmorebooks.

We are so fortunate to live in Australia. If we lived in America,Davewouldhavediedbynow.Ibelievethatwehave achoicetofocusoneitherthebadthingsorthegoodthingsin life.Forme,I’dratherfocusonthegoodthings.Everybodyhas difficulttimesinlife,butifyoudwellonthemtoomuch,itonly impacts on your health and can make you sicker and sicker overtime.

Wehavebeeninourunitforoversixyearsnow.DaveandI have been blessed to be surrounded by good neighbours too. Our next-door neighbours do look after us and occasionally

drive me to wherever I need to go for which I am most thankful.

It’s wonderful to have the security of our tenure, and we reallyappreciatethepeaceofmindthatitgivesus.

Message from Barbara

Sadly, Dave recently passed away. It was just a few months before his sixtieth birthday which he had been planning to celebrate. The funeral held was quiet with just close friends and relatives. Cindy was glad to be with her husband to share his final moments, and is fortunate to have loved ones around her. The family still plan to go ahead with Dave‘s big birthday partyincelebrationofhislife. Daverequestedthathisbodybe donated to the Anatomy Department of Griffith University.

DOLORES

Iam the only MexicanAmerican-Australian in the Clarence Valley and am third generation American, first generation Californian, and the only naturalised Australian in my family.

I grew up in Los Angeles, California, as the eldest child for my parents to practice the serious task of raising a responsible and dutiful daughter. My dad had missed out on the war because of tuberculosis, which causedhimtolosealung.Whileinasanatoriumrecovering,he learnedcarpentryandfineleatherwork.

My mother was a spunky, bespectacled extrovert with a hiddenstreakofinsecurities.ShegrewupinPresidio,Texas,on the border of Mexico at the Rio Grande. Both parents grew up inpovertywithnumeroussiblingswhowereallcompetingfor parentalapprovalandlimitedresources.

My parents met in El Paso, Texas, during the war while working at the same, very classy department store, called the White House.Duringthistime, mymother waskeepingupthe spirits of ten, overseas servicemen, many of whom were from her home town. She was a prolific letter writer, the action of whichkeptheroutoftroubleandasentimentalistbecause she stillhadtheirlettersdecadeslater.

Myfatherwonherhandbypersistence,awarmpersonality, gentleways,andhishumilityinthefaceofnotbeingaterribly romanticperson. And,in timehebecame abelovedson-in-law andaconfidantetohersiblings.

They moved to Los Angeles at war’s end encountering a severe housing shortage. A relative came to their rescue, and after a time, they renteda shop with living quarters. Dad then setuphisleathergoodsbusiness.Myplaypenwassetupinthe shopwindowandIteethedonscrapsoflovely,softleather.To thisday,Ilovetoinhaletheodourofwell-tannedleatherandI havetoresisttheurgetotasteit.

Bythe time ofmy sister’sbirth, myparentshadbecome the proudownerofalong-termmortgageonatwobedroomhouse thathadpotential.

I was raised in a dual cultural environment with the conservative,Americanmindsetofthe1950slayingdownearly prejudices to the detriment of my Mexican heritage. To my regret, I have never mastered Spanish and have always understoodmuchmoreSpanishthanIcouldspeak.

Mother was a natural nester, always making improvements or pushing improvements upon others. To this end, both parents enrolled in night classes at the local high school. Dad addedbookkeepingandtaxworktothelistofhisskills.Mother enjoyedthe camaraderie ofwomen learningphotoretouching, cake decorating, floral design and creative writing. Eventually mother got serious and picked up the skills to do tax and immigration work. She excelled in both and when my parents divorced,shecontinuedtoworkfromafullyfunctioninghome officethatwasonceourlivingroom.

During my growing-up years, I assumed we were middleclass and hadn’t realised until much later, that we were of the aspiring poor with middle-class pretentions. I still enjoy some ofmypretentions!

In the Australian vernacular, I was a sooky child and cried through the first two weeks of kindergarten which almost got meexpelled.However,bysecondgradeIhadtoughenedupand was sufficiently popular to be walked home by five, little-boy playmates.Istillrememberalloftheirnames.

Myloveforreferencebooksstartedinthefifthgradewhena truly gifted teacher challenged my mind. He even talked my mother into buying World Book Encyclopaedias on the time

plan.Ittookmanysummersandmanyyearstobrowsethrough allthevolumes.

My state school life took a sudden turn, when without my consent,IwasenrolledinaCatholicgrammarschoolrunbythe mostrepressiveofIrishnunsIhaveeverencountered.Onlythe youngones,whohadauniversityeducation,weretobetrusted for their humanity; the others were hotwired in judgemental andreproachfulexpectationsofholiness.

In the sixth grade when my parents divorced, I became a practicingatheistandanangrychild,butwascondemnedtosix more years of Catholic school and plaid, pleated skirts. I have vowed never to wear pleats again. I all but burned my skirt whenIgraduatedfromhighschool.

Mother was the first to divorce in her family and alienated herparentsandsiblings.Myparentshaddividedtheirbusiness andclienteledownthemiddleandfamilyandfriendswereleft tochoosesides.

In hindsight, Irealisethatmother wasdamnedifshestayed inafailingmarriage,anddamnedifshegotoutandremarried. However, she remarried too quickly and suffered the consequence. I was twelve and a half when my half-brother was born. Mother had already suffered a miscarriage, so she was very careful during the second pregnancy, and I was her carerbeforeandafterhisbirth.Ibecamethe‘littlemother’,and unfortunatelyforme,sometimeswhenmybrotherwastrailing after me, others would assume I was his unwed mother. However, my face was so innocent, this notion was soon dispelled.

Too many secrets have to be kept with divided parents, as there is much room for misunderstanding. Unfortunately, a childinthispositionlearnsdiscretiontoosoon.Andoneparent is living with pain and regret, and a slow descent into alcoholism.

Thetragedyforallofuswasmymother’sdeathattheyoung age of forty-seven, two days after my half-brother’s sixth birthday. The Spanish writer, Miguel de Cervantes wrote: ‘Whenonedoorclosesanotheropens.’ Andso,mysisterand I wouldnowlivefull-timewithourfather,whowasindesperate

need of being saved. So at the age of eighteen and a half, I became my father’s keeper of the hearth and my fifteen yearoldsister’sfocusofrebellion.

I had been enrolled in the Los Angeles Business College earning under-graduate credit for university for eighteen monthspriortomymother’sdeath,andworkingpart-time.Her passingendedmyformaleducation.

My first adult, full-time job was with an insurance company in downtown Los Angeles. It was while I was looking into insurance for my father that I met the love of my life. A tall, macho, attractive Australian who was twenty years older than me; he was a divorced man who had regained custody of his sons at the death of his ex-wife. Love gave me a ready-made family,andlater,weweretoahaveasonofourown.Wehada hippy wedding in the backyard of our home in Venice, California, with my traditional relatives trying not to look scandalised.

We lived in Venice from 1968 to 1979; first in a rented ranch-stylehousethatwasnearthefamousVeniceCanals,and then we acquired a mortgage of our own. It was the best investment we ever made. Living an exciting life on the cheap was rather romantic in the 1960s and 1970s. We were two shortblocksfromthefamousVeniceOceanFrontWalk.Movies andtelevisionserieswerealwaysbeingfilmedaroundus.

Mystepsons,DanielandJay,whomIraisedfromlittlechaps, had the freedom of roaming around the canals, the ocean and thebeach.TheyjoinedtheBoyScoutsandBoys’Clubandwere topsalesmenforbothorganisationsearningthemmanyprizes overtheyears.

During much of our married life, Geoff suffered from post viral syndrome, now known as chronic fatigue syndrome, which plunged him into endogenous depression. We had to fighthisinsurancecompanytorecognisethecondition,butthe damage had been done to his psyche because he half believed thatitwashisfaultifhecouldn’tgetoutofbed.

My natural mothering instincts have always been highly developed, and despite my youth, I was a wonderful wife, partner, nurse, and a damn good stepmother. A recurrence of

depression was met with medication and sessions with a very good‘shrink’,andafterawhile,onlymedication.

We were fortunate in maintaining good relations with the deceased ex-wife’s mother and sister. I have been corresponding with my husband’s former sister-in-law for forty-threeyearsandIwillmournherpassing.

Because of Geoff’s illness, our youngest went everywhere with me. He attended more PTA and community meetings, rallies and protests than any of his peers. During the years when Geoff was again working full-time, I was involved with the children’s school, becoming the first chairman under the Title2,federalfundingofamultimilliondollarschool,andthen laterworkingasanEducationAidefortwoyears. Myyoungest son jokes that he wasin kindergarten for one year andit took metwotogetout.

The common parental mistake thinking that you have a greater influence on your teenagers than their peers was our undoing.Wehadgiventhemthetoolstoknowhowtothink notwhattothink.Wethoughtwewereraisingallofthemtobe detribalised, capable of adapting and living comfortably in other parts of the world. We didn’t want them to be monocultural. We were law and order people with a leaning towards responsible, civic disobedience. So we lost them to a soft-drugcultureoftheirpeersduringtheirteenageyears.

I had long understood that we would relocate to Australia, andthisprocessbeganintheAmericansummerof1978,when werentedouttheVenicehouseandtravelledtoSanMiguelde AllendeinCentralMexico.Myhusbandhadbuiltahousethere during his first marriage and regained the property after the death of his ex-wife. Being a long-distance landlord created problemsmaking frequent trips necessary.However, this time weweregoingtheretotryandselltheproperty.

It took two summers to accomplish this, offering enough timeforGeofftosaygoodbyetonostalgia.SanMiguelhadbeen a vibrant writers’ colony in the 1950s and 1960s when he wrotehisfirstnovelthatwasalmostpublished.

In May of 1979, we sold the Venice house at the top of the realestatemarketthatyear. Everythingwevaluedwasboxed-

upandwaitinginstorage for the final move.Ourteenagesons chosetoremaininCaliforniauntilsuchtimeaswehadsettled. By June, we were once again in San Miguel; this time we wouldn’t leave until this house was sold. It happened in Novemberandwewerefinallyfreetotakethenextstep.

Ouryoungestson,Don,hadbeenacclimatisingculturallyand emotionally, saying his own goodbyes to the life he knew in Venice and San Miguel. Geoff had an anxiety attack on the day before we left the States, worrying about whether he could stand living around his Melbourne relatives. My sanguine nature made transitions relatively easy as I had been writing myfarewelltofriendsandfamily.

WeleftfromLosAngelesInternationalAirportonDecember 5, 1979 and arrived in Auckland for a ten day visit. It was the breathing space we needed to prepare for our arrival in Australia.

DonandIbeganourjourneyasAustraliansonDecember15, when we touched down at Sydney’s Kingsford-Smith Airport, andarrivinginMelbournebytraintwenty-fourhourslater.My mother-in-law never forgave her eldest son for leaving Australia in 1952, so she had a lot of loving-umbrage to dischargeathimduringtheChristmasholidays.Shehadsucha sweet child-like petulance when she wasn’t raving mad. Her second husband was forbidden to interfere when she and her eldestsonwerehavingdisagreements.

Weboughtwhatwascolloquiallycalleda‘wog’car,aHolden stationwagonforafewhundreddollars,thathadabsolutelyno pretentions, and in this vehicle we travelled to Brisbane, our finaldestination.

With expectations of one of my stepsons living with us in Brisbane, we rented a mock-Tudor monstrosity with four bedroomsforayear.

Don had been too bright for fourth grade so we fought for him to be bumped up a grade. We won, and his school days improved wonderfully. A Chinese-Australian lad became his mentor,guidinghimthroughthecultureoftheplaygroundand tellinghimwhattosayandhowtospeakQueenslandEnglish.

Acclimatising to Brisbane and looking for a business to buy, we made a major miscalculation. On April Fools’ Day in 1980, we bought a commercial print business lock, stock and clientele. We came into the print business when technology was rapidly changing. An owner-manager who knew how to runthepresses,dothelayoutwork,andmakethenegativesfor burning metal plates could in fact make a good living. But we couldn’t do any of that. So I enrolled in a small press, preapprenticeshipcourseatKangarooPointTAFE.

Iwouldhaveenjoyedbeingathomebutforthefactthatour work day was frequently fourteen hours long. And like most working mothers, I felt guilty not spending enough time with our youngest son. This was remedied when he joined us in town.DonsawmoreofBrisbaneCBDthanwedid.

Myyoungerstepson,Jay,arrivedFebruary1981afterhaving burned all his bridges in California. He enrolled in a similar print,pre-apprenticecoursewhichcombinedtheHigherSchool Certificate, and then joined the business as a pressman. However, Jay became a menace on his motorcycle clocking countlesstrafficoffensesinthreedifferentnames.Hislivingat home only lasted a year. During the American summer, his older brother, Daniel, lived with us in an uneasy truce. Like a cat, Daniel wasn’t comfortable being away from his territory andsoonretreatedtoCalifornia.

By that first year of business, we realised we were in over our heads: the profit margin was getting smaller, technology meant a faster turnaround of jobs, and most of our machinery wasdated.Oursociallifewasalmostnon-existent,andthenby chance in late 1981, we met a couple who were involved in a commune called Geergarrow, near Grafton. As interest in this community grew and our exhaustion and burn-out threatened tofinishourmarriage,wefoundabuyerforthebusiness. By dint of hard work, we had increased the volume of print jobs, and managed to sell the business and not become insolvent. The papers were exchanged on American IndependenceDay,July41983.Wewerefreeeeeeeeeeee!

What could have been a second mistake was strangely fortuitous. The commune was populated by visionaries, civil

servants, teachers, and the university-trained who had been made redundant. But Geoff was the only one with practical farm experience from his youth, when at the then prestigious DukieAgriculturalCollegenearShepparton.

The prospectus for investment in the commune was very idealistic and high-minded, but it lacked a sound financial structure. The purchaseof the land came with an interest rate oftwenty-threepercent.Astheprospectuswasdeclaredillegal, getting paid-up shareholders was impossible. The struggle to meetmonthlypaymentswastogoonformanyyears.

In late January1984, wemovedDonintoa largecaravanon thepropertynearthefarmhousewhichservedasthecompany andcommunityheadquarters.Hebegantenthgradeonhisown while we wound up our affairs in Brisbane. We moved permanently to Geeregarrow in April. Don came into his own thatyear, makinglifelongfriendsandbecominga man around campus. I was very impressed with the quality of his friendships.

By1985,thecommunityhadmanagedtosnagtheinterestof Johnson Farm Management of Coffs Harbour, and then began theslowprocessofcreatingajointventurethatwouldsavethe community by selling the property to them. It looked good on paper, but it didn’t work. Others had been vacating the propertyovertheyearsindisappointment.Thelastcommunity newsletterwasprintedinFebruary1986.

So,by1988weandanothercoupleweretheonlyonesliving at Geergarrow. That same year, under the Home Purchase Assistance Scheme, we bought a house in Grafton. It was wonderfultoliveinarealhouseagain,haveroomswithdoors, and the peace of mind for my husband to finish two other novels.

The worm in the apple wasin the scheme itself.We became ‘victims’ of Home Purchase Assistance Scheme (HPA), and in 1995,allofusHPAersweregiventhreeoptions:youcouldsell your home and pay off the mortgage, refinance if possible, or sell your property to the Department of Housing and become itstenants.

Thethirdoptionwasthebestforusbecausewewereinthe housethatwehadchoseninacommunityofourchoice,within walking distance of the town centre, on the bus line, and in a salubrious location. Fortwenty-five percent ofour income, we wouldhavelessfinancialstress.Atfirst,wewereonatwo-year lease that was extended to five years, and finally in 2002, we hadwhatIfondlycalla‘perpetual’lease.

On Australia Day 2003, I became a naturalised Australian, thus adding another culture to my original ethnicity; hence callingmyselfMexican-American-Australian.

Geoff had been diagnosed with fourth stage lung cancer in August 2001, and died seventeen months later of multiple cancers. What made dying easier for him was the knowledge thatIhadthesecurityofahomeforlife.

He died on February 2, 2003 at eight o’clock in the evening with the fading summer light, while I was holding his hand. In talking of his passing, I told friends: ‘You don’t fill voids, you makesubstitutions.’

Since his death, I have learned new living skills, collected machotools,didafantasticjobofinteriordesignonmyhome, andforatime,Imowedallthegrassaroundmycornerlot.But thatwasn’tenoughtokeepmebusy.

For three years after hisdeath, I only had involvement with three organisations at one time: Grafton Regional Gallery, a BoardDirectorofSouthGraftonNewSchoolofArtsNeighbour House,andtheMulticulturalFestival.

On a grander scale, I have been volunteering with the Clarence Environment Centre, Grafton Breast Cancer Support, andontheTenantCouncilofNorthCoastCommunityHousing, andmostrecently, NSWCommunityHousingTenantNetwork. These are my ongoing passions. It is my privilege and passion to work on behalf of fellow tenants and give back to my housingprovider.

And should you like to know about my sons: Daniel is an Environmentalist living in Northern California, and turning fifty-two in September. I am waiting for him to grow up gracefully. His fifteen month younger brother, Jay, has been livingin Moscowfor over sixteen years, isthe owner-manager

ofanorganiccheesebusiness,thefatherofapigeonpair. Don wasforty-fivethisyear.Hehasbeenworkingwithpeoplewith intellectual disabilities since his university days. He and his beloved partner, Tania, live in Sydney and have a pigeon pair too.Theyremainloversandfriends.

Soin conclusion:mylifeisfullof purpose with the pleasure of many friendships, and the love of my boys and grandchildren. I still have all my marbles, an incredible memory for films I’ve seen, and I don’t drive. I don’t have a senseofdirection,andgetlosteasilyinalargeshoppingcentre, abhorcamping,andenjoylearningsomethingneweveryday.

I am a Scorpio. A friend of the same zodiac sign says: ‘Scorpiosdon’thavefriendships,theytakehostages.’

Mymantrais:‘Loveisthequestionandtheanswer.’

Did you know that: ‘Motherhood is a service industry that endsatyourdeath?’

My benediction at the end of letters, cards, and emails is: ‘Take care and keep well.’ And to those friends over seventyfiveyears:‘Don’tfalldown!’

ELIZABETH

Cats Don’t Cry

Iwas born in Charleville, Queensland,ona100,000 acre sheep property. Beingoneoffourchildren,therewerethreegirlsandabrother. Myfather camefrom awealthyfamily.He workedhardonthe land,andwoulddrive the sheepacrossthe border when grass wasscarce,andwhentheconditionsimproved,hewouldbring themallback.

Thereisn’tmuchIcansayaboutmymother,exceptthatshe was not a nice woman at all, and she was certainly not a nurturingmother.Assoonaswewerealloldenough,wewere placed in boarding schools and nurseries to get us out of her way,whileshetravelledtheworld.

My childhood was not a happy one. I was young when my parents split up, and I had always felt like I was the ‘odd one out’ in the family—as though I wasn’t really one of them. My mother had told me that when I was six weeks old, I came down with a life-threatening illness known as meningitis. It is difficult to imagine that a baby so young would have survived suchagraveillness,particularlyduringthosetimes.However,I believe that ‘I’ (the six week old baby) had actually died, and there was a girl an unmarried mother from whom my mother bought a baby(me). Asa result, myfamilyhastreated me differently throughout my entire life. I even look different. Thatsortofarrangementhappenedalotbackinthe1940s. Whenmyparents'marriagebrokeup,mymothertookusto Sydney, and she placed me in a nursery. I later went to a boarding school at Vaucluse, called Loch Maree, and then to Queenwood. However, my older sister was sent to a private

schoolinthecountry.Ialsofooledaboutalot,soperhapsIwas justconsideredanaughtychild.

Over the years, I kept asking my mother where my father was, and when I was in my early twenties, she finally told me thatwhen he wasn’ton the property, he would be somewhere on the Gold Coast. So I headed off to the Gold Coast and knocked on every door, until eventually, I found a man who knew my father, and he told me where he lived. I went to the address given, knocked on the front door, and a beautiful woman answered.Liz,myfather’snewwifeinvitedme in.She and my father had only seen photos of me when I was about five years old, but I heard her say to my father: ‘Jimmy, Elizabeth is here.’ Now, how would she have known who I was? LizandIwoundupbeingthegreatestoffriends.

Mymotherhadbeentellingusforyearsthatshehadpaidfor all the boarding school fees. However, Dad showed me all the receipts clearly proving that he had been the one to pay not our mother. It was not surprising really. Also, she never took the time to buy us something special for Christmas or birthdays wewerejustpresentedwithacheque.

When I was back in Sydney, I visited my mother one day to have morning tea with her. I’d been there for about an hour, and she said: ‘Oh, I meant to tell you your father died yesterday.’ Shocked, I immediately picked up the phone and spoke to Liz, who said: ‘Elizabeth, I have been ringing your mother everydaybecauseJimmywascallingfor you.’When it wastoolate,Lizrangmymotherandsaid:‘Okay,Jimmy’sdead now.AreyougoingtoletElizabethcometothefuneral?’

BythenIwasmarriedtoadoctorandprofessor.HehadaGP practice in Kirribilli and a specialist practice in Macquarie Street. I was working for him as a nurse at the time, and later we were married. One day my husband had a patient in his consultation room, and she came out and said: ‘You’ve got to come in here.’ I entered the room and there he was, unconsciousoverthedesk.Whileshewasinthere,hehadgone intothe treatmentroomandhadoverdosedonmorphine, and then passed out over the desk. I had no idea that he was addictedtodrugs.

Ihadnochoicebuttogooutintothewaitingroomandsayto the people who were waiting: ‘The doctor has been called out to an emergency. Can I make another appointment for you?’ Someofthemranginacoupleofdaystoaskhowhewas.They knew!

Needless to say, our marriage didn’t last. I was married to himforfouryears,andhadlivedwithhimforfouryearsprior. When he was on drugs, he became very violent. One day he beat me so much that I almost lost consciousness. On another occasion I ran through the unit and out onto the balcony and said: ‘I’m going to jump I can’t take this anymore.’ I had no intentionofjumping,butranandhidbehindthecurtainwhere hecouldn’tseeme.Hewentoutontothebalcony,lookeddown butdidn’tseeabody,andjustwent:‘Ughhh.’

Whenwebrokeup,itwasn’teasy.Wehadababygirlbythis time, and from my recollection, I don’t think he had ever held her. I went to a solicitor who advised that my situation was hopeless there was too much work involved to reach a fair settlement, which I wouldn’t be able to afford because my husbandhadmorethanenoughmoneytofightit.

WhenIwasmovingout,Ihiredaremovalisttotransportmy belongings. When everything had been packed into the truck, someone who knew my husband told him that I was moving out. He immediately turned up and paid the removalists one hundreddollarseachtoputitallbackandchangethelocks.

WhenmyhusbandwasworkingatGuy’sHospitalinLondon, hehadafall,whichresultedinatremorinhisrighthand.Allhe suffered was a mild headache immediately after the fall, and therefore, continued on to operate. However, it was after the operation when they noticed that something was wrong, and they later discovered that he had had a haemorrhage in the brain.

Itookhimtocourttogetthedivorce.Butapparently,hehad paid off my solicitor, as in court, my husband was granted everything. By then, he was no longer working as the fall had putanendtohismedicalcareer.Iwasonlyawardedforty-four dollars a week. We had been living in a beautiful, elegant townhousethatwehadrecentlybought,buthegotaroundthat

too.Icameawaywithnothing nohouse,andnomoney.Ilost everything ... everything ...

My husband had also been having an affair witha girlfriend of mine, and ended up marrying and staying with her. I don’t knowwhetherheisdeadoralivenow.Idoknowhoweverthat he did get dementia, which was a terrible shame, because he wasabrilliantman.

IstayedwithagirlfriendatTeagardens.Sheandherhusband hadasmallbusiness,fixingcarsandsellingpetrol.Ilivedwith themuntilIfoundalittleflat,whichunfortunately,hadholesin the roof. I put potatoes in to fill in the gaps, until one day I lookedup,andsawthattheyhadallbeeneatenout byrats.A friend of mine gave me a python and we put it in the roof. Having had experience living in the bush, we had always used thatmethodtoeliminatevermin.Ididhaveapetsnakeonce.I had a picture by the front door, and he used to wind himself around it. One day a friend came to visit me, and Sammy, the snake,stuckhisheadoutalittleandmyfriendfreakedout.

WeusedtogofishingduringatimewhenIdidn’twork.The fellowIwentfishingwithlookedafterusverywellandkeptus well-stockedwithfishandprawns.Becausewehadthegarden atthe back, he woulduse the guts ofthe fishandheadswhich we would then place into the soil in the garden, and it grew marvellous food. We also had a peach tree and the fruit was hugeanddelicious.Theyweregoodtimes.Onenight,wewere outfishingandpulledinanetthatwasfullofcrabs.Allwehad wasa little rowboatwitha seatacrossthe middle. Terrifiedof their claws in the tiny space available, I yelled out: ‘Get rid of them, get rid of them!’ But my friend said: ‘No, they are worth sixdollarseach.’

My friends at Teagardens eventually moved to Airlie Beach andhadalittleshopthere.Istayedwiththemforawhile,and got a job with a doctor in Proserpine. The pay was good, so I stayedthereforacoupleofyears.Intheend,Iwoundupliving withthedoctor,andweweretobemarried,buthekeptputting it off. But I soon left that relationship too. All I had was a cat, some clothes and my daughter Vicky, who was about eight at thetime.

Several years later, my daughter was planning to hitchhike aroundAustralia,andaskedifIwouldliketogowithher.Iwas welcome to go if I wanted to, but if I didn’t, she planned to go anyway. Asamother, Iwasn'tabouttoletmysixteen yearold daughter hitchhike around Australia alone, so I decided to go with her. When we arrived in Coffs Harbour, that’s when everythingturnedupsidedown.

My daughter stayed with some friends where she met and took up with a twenty-seven year old junkie. Naturally, I was distressedbuthadnobodytoturntoforhelp.Havingnowhere else to go, I went to the Department of Community Services (DOCS) and asked them for help, because I knew he was introducingmydaughtertoheroin.Soveryearlyonemorning, thedoorbellrangandIopenedittotwopeoplefromDOCSwho weretheretoseeVicky.Wewentstraighttoherbedroomand openedthedoor,andthereshewas,inbedwiththeboyfriend. The people from DOCS said to him in no uncertain terms: ‘Get outofhereorwe’llhaveyouarrested.’

Thelastwordshesaidtomewas:‘Iwillneverforgiveyoufor this.’AllIwantedwasforthemtotalktoher,notputherinjail, or anything like that. She was sitting in the hallway at DOCS when she asked if she could go to the toilet. Having got permission, she scooted off down the hallway and that was thelastIsawofher.Shehadjumpedoutofthewindow,down ontoandacrosstheroof,foundtheboyfriendandthenheaded toSydney outonthestreet.

I knew some private investigators and I asked them to find out where she was. For the first time in years, she phoned to tellmethatJohn,thejunkie,wasafterherandshewasterrified for her life. I told Denny, the private investigator, what was happening, and I then told Vicky to ring me back in twenty minutesandtheywouldadvisemeonwhatshewastodonext. His instruction was for her to hide in the telephone booth on the corner of a particular street and they would come and get her. She did exactly that andDenny jumped outof the car and grabbed and bundled her into it. A moment later, the junkie came around the corner the timing was terrible. They took herbacktotheofficeandthenphonedtotellmetheyhadher.

Vicky was then booked on a direct flight with no stopovers between Sydney and Cairns (I was living in Townsville at the time). Mydaughteroncehadbeautifulauburnhair,butthegirl that stepped off that plane had white Tina Turner hair, and a tinylittleskirt.Shelookedlikeahooker,andIdidn’trecognise her.Shecameuptomeandsaid:‘Howinheaven’snamedoyou knowpeoplelikethat?’Igotherhomeandtookhertoadoctor who helped me to dry her out and get her rehabilitated. She thenphonedtheboyfriendtotellhimwhereshewas.Hecame up,andshelefttogobacktoSydneywithhim.Sherangmeto saywhereshewasandthatshewasnowbackwithJohn.

Sometimelater,IwaslivingonafarmatNimbin,rightunder theNimbinRocks.Iwasintownwhenamansaid:‘Yourhouse has been burgled.’ I drove home, and apparently, Vicky had turned up unbeknownst to me. I found out that they were hidingin a sidestreetuntilIleftthe farm, knowingtheycould getin.Afriendsaidatruckhaddrivenupasidestreet,loaded upandtookoff.Ididn’tknowshewasintown,ofcourse.

I have been getting silent phone calls recently and I know theyarefromher.Ireceivedaphonecalltheotherday,andthe caller just hung on for a long time. Eventually, I said: ‘Vicky, I know that’s you. I didn’t do that to hurt you; I did it to help you.’ And she just said: ‘Goodbye.’ They were the only words she spoke on fifty or so silent phone calls. I could get a silent number,butI’mstillhopingshewillcall.

I now have cancer, and the doctor has informed me that I don’thavelong,buthedoessaythatI’masurvivor.

IamgratefultoNorthCoastCommunityHousing.Ihavebeen in my unit for twelve years now, and it has been wonderful to haveaquietandsecurehome.

ERIS&NENE

We came to Australia from Uruguayin June of 1970. I had been looking for somewhere to live where I could find a decent job after being a professional soccer player in Uruguay. We began our search in Germany where I started to learn the language, and then a friend convinced me to go to the Australian Consulate in Buenos Aires. That was what we did, andhereweare.

But let me take you back because our journey really began whenoureldestdaughter,Claudia,wasborn.

When my first daughter was born, I was in hospital with hepatitisinMontevideo,thecapitalandlargestcityinUruguay. After we had gone to Salto, where Nene had fallen pregnant, I applied to play with the Salto team, but I had to return to Montevideo to sign a transfer for my club which I did. With my transfer now official, I visited my parents in Montevideo andstayedwiththemforaday.

Suddenly,Ibecamenauseousandstartedvomiting,andtook myselftoseeadoctorwhoinformedmethatIhadHepatitisB.I was admitted into hospital and all was going well, but I was anxious to know what was happening with Nene because she was well and truly due to have the baby. Nobody said a word about whether she had given birth yet, and if she did, I didn’t knowwhetherwehadaboyoragirl.Keentobewithmywife at this time, I discharged myself from hospital against the doctor’sadvice,andwentstraighttomyparent’shome.WhenI arrivedthephonerang itwasNene.Shealsohadnoideathat

Ihadbeeninhospital,orthatIhadevenbeenill.Ithentookthe train back to Salto to see my wife and my new daughter, Claudia,andafterthat,wedecidedtogobacktoMontevideo.

Before I started playing soccer, sickness prevailed once more,andIfoundmyselfinhospitalagain—thistimeforthree months. When coming home from hospital, it was time to find somework,soIappliedtoplaysoccer.Ihadtodemonstratemy abilitytoplay,andwoundupbeingthebestplayeronthefield, so that night, I signed the contract. It was lifesaving to finally receivethatincome.

We had decided to move to Australia, and our plan was underway, butsixweeksbefore we were duetoleave, Claudia died from an asthma attack; she was only twelve years old. It was very hard because when Claudia died, I wasn’t there. On that day, she was in bed because the asthma was so severe. NenewasoutsidedoingthelaundrywhileClaudia’slittlesister, Monica, was inside playing with her. As the two sisters were playing,Claudiacollapsed,butMonicahadn’trealisedwhathad happened. She had her arm around Claudia but didn’t know whattodo.Shewasonlyfouryearsoldatthetime.

Claudia was a very special child and she was meant to live heryounglifewithus.WhenIwenttoseeherinthecoffin,she wassmiling!Iwillnever forgetit. She wasrestingnow,asshe had endured so many asthma attacks during her life. In Montevideo, she always had problems with asthma, and becauseNenecamefromSalto,andClaudiawasborntheretoo, we would go to Salto on holidays for a couple of weeks every year.Sherodeahorse,bicycleanddidregularthingsthatother children do,because the climate there wasjust right for her she really ‘lived’ in Salto. For that reason, I will never forget Saltoanditwillalwaysbeaspecialplaceforme.

On the night of Claudia’s passing, a lady friend asked if she couldtakeMonicaforsleepoveratherhome.Duringthenight, Monica screamed and the lady flew into her room. Monica calledout:‘Claudia,Claudia!Shecametoseemeinalongwhite dress, and she went upstairs and waved to me, and she was smiling.’Monicawillneverforgetthatvision.

But now, we were on our way to a new lifein Australia. We went from Uruguay to Brazil, from Brazil to Mexico and from Mexico to Los Angeles. We then went to Tahiti, Hawaii and finally to Sydney. Coincidentally, we had met the Australian Consul at the Embassy who had helped us to get our papers ready to leave, and discovered that he was on the same flight backtoAustralia.

When we arrived in Australia, we lived at the Cabramatta Migrant Hostel first. Then we moved to Fairfield the hostel wasokaybecausethereweremanySouthAmericans.Wehada team there too, and Nene made many lady friends. I started working in real estate, and then had my own real estate business, but after a while, I closed it down. I then worked in Fairfield at a Spanish real estate office; however, we soon became bankrupt and lost everything, but our lives and hope were not lost. Nene had always encouraged and urged me to keepgoing tonevergiveup.

I started working for the Departmentof Railways, and Nene was working at Central Railway Station. When Nene started working,shehadtoleavebecauseMonicacouldn'tstopcrying. Shewassickofhavingnomother.

ButMonicahadalsohadthepainfulexperienceoflosingher oldersisterbeforeweheadedofftoAustralia.Theproblemwas that we never did talk to Monica about what had happened. It actuallytookuseightyearstostarttalkingaboutit,aspriorto that, we couldn’t even mention Claudia’s name. Unfortunately, we paid for it later, because Monica became depressed as a result of not talking through and knowing how to deal with a situation she didn’t understand. Children so young don’t comprehend the concept of death. I blame myself, because I neversoughtthehelpIneededtohelpMonicaunderstandwhy hersisterhaddied.

IcanonlyputitdowntothewayIgrewup.Therewerefour boys and a girl in my family. I was the middle child. My father was quite an aggressive man he hit me several times with a belt buckle. At no time do I remember ever receiving a hug or any form of affection from my father, and my parents never showedme love. Thataffected me greatlygrowingup, whereI

didn’t develop the coping skills to deal with difficult and distressing situations. But thanks to Nene, I am much happier inmyselfandwe'vecreatedagoodlifeforourselves.

Nene had always worked at home. But after Monica left school and undertook a position with the National Bank, and then Qantas, Nene decided it was time for her to find work outsidethehome.SosheapproachedtheHiltonHoteltoaskfor a job and luckily got one. It was great. I also worked in the laundry doing the guests’ washing, but eventually, I decided it was time to get a better job. After resigning, I received a superannuation payout of two thousand dollars. That was a realbonusformeasitenabledmetoflybacktoseemymother.

At one point, Nene did several cleaning jobs two or three days a week which paid really well until we moved up to the TweedShire.MonicawasalreadylivingintheTweed,soinJuly of2000,wedecidedtomoveuptobeclosertoher.Becauseshe was having ongoing problems with depression, we wanted to be there to offer whatever support she needed. We found a placeatTheGroveandlivedtherefornineyearsuntiltheunit was sold. We kept moving to other units, and many of them were sold. It became extremely difficult to find stable accommodation.

As Nene points out, the trouble with renting is that you are forced to continually move, even though we had always been goodtenants.We wereveryluckytohavebeengiven thisunit attherighttime;wehadjustsignedanotheryear’sleaseonour unit at The Grove, but fortunately, we were able to get out of that to move into North Coast Community Housing (NCCH). Whentheagentscametoinspecttheunit,theyweresopleased to see how spotless and well cared for it was, that we didn’t have to outlay money to have them clean it after us we felt proud.

When we lived in The Grove, the landlord decided to come and visit us one day. He was a lovely man of Asian origin who was kind enough to never have increased the rent during our tenancy. We were surprised and delighted when he turned up thatdaywithabigboxofchocolatestothankusforbeingsuch goodtenants.

Four days before we came to see this unit, someone from NCCHphonedandofferedusa unitatBanoraPoint,butatthe time, we wanted to live in Tweed Heads, and therefore, declined the offer. We then received another message from a chapfromNCCHtoadvisethatthiswasagoodplaceandworth us taking a look at, however we weren’t so keen because we thought the office was located in Lismore. Subsequently discovering that NCCH had an office in Tweed as well, we decided it may be worth having a look after all, so we finally headedfortheNCCHoffice,andthankfully,eventhoughitwas four days later, the unit was still available. The residence we were meant to see was locked, but the lady next door kindly offered to show us inside hers. We were so impressed with what we saw, that we picked up the key the very next day to lookattheunitthatwasbeingoffered.Weloveditandrushed back to the office and immediately signed up. Our daughter couldn’thavebeenhappierforus.

Itactuallytookseventeenyearsforustoreachthetopofthe list for housing. We had been told that we would be given housing when I turned eighty, but I was eighty-one before we weregiventhisunit.

Now, our life is perfect. We enjoy keeping our place nice because it is our home. We would like to extend a very big thankyoutoHelaineandLisaattheTweedoffice theyhelped tomakethedreamofhavingourownhomefinallycometrue.

EVA

The Longest Serving Tenant

Iwas born in Combienbar, Victoria, near Sale. I was oneoffourchildrenandhad two brothers and a sister. The eldest was a step-brother who wasafairbitolder.

Myparentshada farm.Butmymother andfather didn’tget along,andbeforelongmymothermadeadecisiontoleaveand takeustoMelbournewhenIwasonlyelevenyearsold.

As a sole parent trying to juggle work and being a mother, she worked at nights doing office cleaning, so she could be at homewithusthroughtheday.

I went to school in Melbourne, and over time, when my brothers and sister were working, I had to rush home from schooltogetteaready.Iwasthechiefcookinourfamily.

I stayed home until my husband, Selwyn, came into my life. My brother married Selwyn’s sister, and that’s how we met, and before long, we were married too. It was an unusual situation brotherandsistermarryingbrotherandsister.

SelwynandIhadthreewonderfulchildren twoboysanda girl. We were married for about twenty years when we divorced after our marriage broke down. But the funny thing was: we became great friends after we divorced. Selwyn did remarry,andhiswifeandIarestillfriendstoday.Wecontinue to send one another Christmas and birthday cards, so the outcomeworkedoutforeveryone.

Eventually, I met my second husband, Tony, and we had a goodmarriageandweretogetherformanyyears.Together,we joined the Salvation Army and Tony worked in their shop. Unfortunatelythough,Tonyhadaseriousheartcondition.

How we came to learn about North Coast Community Housing (NCCH), was after talking to my nephew who lived in Victoria, and he and his family were with a similar housing company. He said to me one day: ’Why don’t you find out if thereisasomethingsimilarwhereyouare?’Sowe discovered therewasone,andatthattime,thecompanyhadasmalloffice inMurwillumbah.

We were soon interviewed, and were eventually offered a placeinMurwillumbah,andthenwemovedtotheTweedarea. Itwasalovelyunit,butitwasupstairs,andTony’sheartdidn't makeiteasyforhimtowalkupthestairs.Hehadafalltwiceon thosestairs,andconsequently,theofficeinformedusthatthey wouldfindussomethingmore suitable tomeetour needs. We then moved to a nice single storey unit at Banora Point, just around the corner from where I am now, and the neighbours wereverynicepeople.

Tony and I were very comfortable and happy in our unit andthentragedystruck.Ourneighbourshadinvitedusoveron New Year’s Eve for a few drinks and nibblies to celebrate the occasion. We accepted the invitation and were having a lovely time, when my husband suddenly said: ‘Oh, I’m so damned tired;Ineedtogotobed.'IsaidIwouldleavethepartyandgo withhim,buthetoldmetostayandenjoymyself.Aboutfifteen totwentyminuteslater,apremonitiontoldmetogohomeand check on Tony, and when I got there, I found him dead on the floor between the lounge room and kitchen. That was New Year’s Eve, and the year before that, my mother died on Christmas Eve. It was dreadful. So nowadays, Christmas Eve andNewYear’sEvehavenomeaningtome.

Anyway, I asked North Coast Community Housing if I could move to another unit should any become available. It was just too hard to continue living there, because where I had found TonywaswhereIhadtowalkanumberoftimeseachday.We

hadbeenwithNCCHforyears,anditwasn’tverylongaftermy requestthatIwasshowntheunitIamlivinginnow.

Ihavebeenhereforaboutsevenyearsandamquitecontent. My unit is close to the local shops and on bus routes, so it has workedoutverywellforme.

There are eighteen units in this estate, and all the residents helpeachotherout.Iamnoweighty-sevenyearsoldandhave abadheartandseveralotherhealthproblems.Ihavehadmany falls and put my shoulder out, and that has given me dreadful troubles.Ialsohaveosteoporosisandarthritis.

I ended up in hospital at Christmas. I have a gentleman neighbour, who is my friend and carer. His daughter lives at OceanShoresandshehadinvitedusforChristmasdinner,and Ireallywantedtogo.SomydoctorcamearoundonChristmas Eve and looked over all the tests I had undergone. Reasonably satisfied,thedoctorgavemepermissiontogohome,providing thatIpromisedtobehavemyself.

I love reading and doing crosswords, and love to collect elephant ornaments. I also enjoy my small garden, and I have somecutegardenornamentstheretoo.

NorthCoastCommunityHousinghasalwaysbeenextremely good to me and I’ve never had problems with them at all. WheneverIhaveneededorrequestedsomething,itwasthere. When Itookill, mydoctor recommendedthatIhavehandrails for support, and before I knew it, a tradesman arrived and installedhandrailsinthebathroomandoutsidewhereIwalk.A servicecan'tgetbetterthanthat.

GARY

Iwas born in Liverpool in the western suburbs of Sydney, and grew upin a regular family with one younger sister.

My life-changing experience started really when I was eight yearsold.Ihadalwaysbeen an active kid—anexercisefanatic actually. On this particular day, I was swinging on the chain thatwaspartofthegaragedoormechanics,whensuddenly,the chain gavewayandthe roller doorfell on topofme, seriously injuringmyhead.Immediatelyaftertheaccident,I hadtrouble seeing properly, so Mum rushed me off to the doctor. I remember the doctor asking me to touch my thumb with my fingerswhilehecarriedoutathoroughexamination.

The prognosis was not overly reassuring when the doctor informed my mother that, although I seemed all right, I did sustain a serious head injury, and as a result, I was likely to suffer small strokes later in life. Being as young as I was, my parents chose not to share that information with me, and I didn’tfindoutuntilmuchlater.Inthemeantime,Ilivedmylife asanyotherchilddid.

Beforelong,primaryschoolwasbehindme,andIthenwent toLeumeahHighSchoolwhereIexperiencedsomechallenging times of bullying. I was one of the targets, and eventually I becamesickofcominghome witha‘fatlip’.Onone occasion,I witnessed a teacher being knocked out cold because he’d had the audacity to try and stop a fight between two students. These kids were rough. Fortunately for me, a friend of my father’s taught boxing at the Police Citizens Youth Club, so I

tookupboxinglessonstogivemetheskilltodefendmyself.It worked,asinashorttime,thefightsstopped.

When growing up, I was such a skinny kid that my father thought it would do me good to take up swimming. At the age of thirteen, I was unable to swim, but by the time I turned sixteen, I was the third fastest swimmer in the state. I remember Dad standing with pride at the side of the pool anticipating my win, and most of the time I did. I enjoyed my athleticpursuits.Ialwayspreferredindividualsportoverteam sports, which was why I loved weightlifting, boxing and swimming.

Like many other young people before me, I was married at nineteen, as the girl I was dating fell pregnant. To take on the responsibleroleofhusbandandfather,myfatherhelpedmeto secureajobattheAustralianPaperMillinSydneyasafactory labourer.

After several years our marriage ended. Coping with the breakup was difficult. One minute I was a married man with three children, and then suddenly, it was all over. To help me getthroughit,Isoonfoundmyselfusingheroin.Iwenttoapub and met with an old girlfriend who had picked up a few bad habits since we were last together. After talking to her about mysituation,shesaidtome:’Putyourarmout.’Idid,andwhile holdingoutmyarm,sheinjectedmewithheroin,andfromthat momentonIwashooked.

However, I had long overcome my heroin addiction before startingafreshatHastingsPointinnorthernNewSouthWales where I had a job cleaning the Cabarita Bowls Club. I used to run from Hastings Point to Cabarita, clean the club, and then jogbackhomealongthebeach.Whenonmyjogs,peopleoften asked me: ’Are you doing some sort of fitness program?’ I’d laughandthenpulloutacigarette.Iwasachain-smoker,butso far, my body had gotten away with it because swimming had made me so fit I had never been sick. One day, I ran out of petrol at Mooball and ran all the way home to Hastings Point, picked up a can of petrol and a ride back to my car. I was so proudofmyfitcondition.

Life went on and I continued to be an exercise fanatic. First thing every morning, I would do fifty push-ups, my usual regime, but thirty or forty was enough if I’d been out drinking thenightbefore.Iwouldstartoutthedaywithacoffee,smoke adozencigarettes,andthenruntotheclub.

ThemorningIrangthehospitalwhenhavingmyfirststroke, I was in the middle of trying to master the Tree in yoga, and I kept going until I succeeded. After that, I had experienced several ministrokes, also known as transient ischemic attack (TIA), a temporary interruption of blood flow to the brain. In themeantime,I’doftenberunningalongthebeachandfeelone comingon,soIwouldhavetostopuntilitpassed.

I realise now how much I took my body for granted. I had always believed that it was my God-given birthright to be a greatathleticchampion.Andthenmylifechanged.

Isufferedasecondandveryseriousstroke,atwhichpoint,I was certified as brain dead. I had been in a coma for a month whenthedoctorscalledmyparentsintotellthemthatshouldI survive, I would use a wheelchair for the rest of my life. The doctors felt it was time to turn the life support off, and my parentsgavepermissiontodoso.Withthat,Iopenedmyeyes, andthefirstthingIsaidtomysisterwas:’Givemeacigarette.’ Itwasmyfirstthought they’resoaddictive.Ithentriedtoget outofbedandmyfamilysaid:‘You’vehadastrokeandyou’ve been in a coma for a month.’ I discovered just how grave my situation had been over that month. To be certified as brain deadisveryseriousindeed.

Consideringhowseveremyconditionwas,Iconsidermyself fortunatetostillbeabletogetaroundalittle,andIcannowget up without using a stick. The left side of my body has been weakened, and I get a sharp pain in my groin. But other than that, I have maintained my health for the last twenty-three years. I enjoy sitting out in the sun every morning and feel great.

At sixty, I still enjoy time with my mates when they come overfortheoccasionalbeer,andIneverdidgiveupsmoking.I stillplantorecoverandgetbacktoswimming.AllIcandonow

is a sidestroke because I can only use one arm to pull myself along.

I’ve been in my unit for seventeen years now. I enjoy my home.It’scomfortableanditsuitsmyneeds,particularlysince Ihada fallone day, andgrab railswere immediatelyinstalled. MysisterhelpsouteveryfortnightandIhavesomewonderful Christianfriends.

GINA

Always the Carer

Iwas born in England, in Rainham, Kent a lovely country town back then. As children we used to run throughthewoodsandpickbluebells.Ioftenthinkaboutthose days, and tell my grandchildren stories about what we did whenwewereyoung,andtheyarealwaysquitesurprised.

I was the eldest of seven children aged from fourteen down tothreeyears.Mybrotherwasborneighteenmonthslaterand we were the two closest in age. There was another brother whenIwasfiveyearsold,andIcanrememberpushinghimina big pram out in the snow. Another two brothers came along andtheyoungerofthetwowasthreeyearsoldwhenourtwin sisterswereborn.

It was my fate to be born with a turn in one eye, a genetic strain that runs through our family which always affects the first-born. My parents became aware of my problem when I was three to four months old, but were unable to do anything aboutituntilIwasoldenoughtositupinmypram.OnceIwas able do that, glasses were prescribed for me. But I was only a baby,andIwouldkeeptakingmyglassesoffandbangingthem againstthe pramwhichwascosting Dada fortune torepairor replace,sotoresolvethat,anelasticbandwastiedaroundthe backofmyhead.

However,whengoingoutinpublic,peoplewouldtakeapeek in the pram and stare at me with my glasses, and say: ’What's wrong with your baby?’ Mum was a very shy person, and eventually, she would hardly take me out. My grandmother then stepped in recognising what was happening. She would

take me on the bus and out to see her friends. That really helped me to develop social skills, as without my grandmother’shelp,Iwouldhavebecomequiteanintrovert.

My grandmother and I spent quite a bit of time together. When Iwassixteen shebecame seriouslyill, andsoon became bedridden. As shelayin bed, I usedto visit her often and help her drink water through a straw. She soon passed away, and I wasn’t allowed to attend her funeral because my parents thought it would be too upsetting for me. But that decision, althoughwell-intentioned,didn’tgiveme theclosureIneeded. WhenIvisitedtheauntwhohadlivedwithher,Iwouldalways lookinmygrandmother'sbedroomtoseeifshewasthere.

Kidsused tocall me ’four-eyes’atschool, butit didn'treally worry me as not too many of them did. When I reached my teens,Iattendedadancewithafriendonenight,andtwoboys askedustodance.Ofcourse,IchosetotakemyglassesoffbutI couldn't see a thing! After the dance I asked my friend which boy danced with me and she pointed him out I thought he lookedallright.Shedancedwithhisfriendand,funnilyenough, sheendedupmarryinghim.

Astheeldest,IwasactuallyMum'shelper.Ihadbeenasking for a sister for a long time, and at the time, Mum didn't know she was about to have twins; even though she was so big that she had to walk sideways through the kitchen door! In those days, you always had babies at home delivered by a midwife, and Mum announced on this day: ’I think the baby is coming. Canyougoandgetthemidwife?’SooffIwentonmybike,and themidwifesoonarrivedonherownbike.

After several hours, when I was sitting in the kitchen with Dad,themidwifecamedownstairsandsaid,‘Onebabyisborn, butthereisanother.’I'llneverforgetthatday.Dadwaswalking upanddownthekitchen,smokingonecigaretteaftertheother, notknowingwhattodountilthemidwifecamedownandsaid: ‘I don't think Jean should stay because Mum is in a lot of pain andscreaming.’

So I went to a neighbour's house, and later, Mum called me upstairsandasked:‘Areyouhappynow?Youhavetwosisters.’ Ilether know that I wasveryhappy. Mumthen toldme thatI

could pick one of the twins’ names. This was a great privilege forme,sothegirlswerenamedCarolandSusan.Thatdaystill remains significant for me, even after giving birth to my own children.

WhenMumhadthegirls,shehadtorusharoundtogetextra baby clothes, because she hadn't prepared for twins. When Mumhadjustcomehomefromhospital,hersister-in-lawcame overwithabigbagofbabyclothesshehadgotatsomejumble sale.

Mumwassograteful.‘Thankyousomuch.’

‘I'll have to charge you for them.’ Her sister-in-law said. I don’t recall how much it was, but Mum and I were flabbergasted!

AfterMumhadthetwins,shewasadmittedintohospitalfor a couple of weeks to be sterilised so she wouldn't have more children. She would have enjoyed the rest because she never receivedanyhelp.Shehadasisterwhoonlyhadonechild,but never came to visit Mum until all the children had left home. I didgotoherhousefortheoccasionalSundaydinnerbecauseI was friendly with her daughter my cousin. Even my father's family didn't help out. They lived in a nearby street and had twogirls—onewasfiveyearsolderthanmeandtheotherwas eighteen months younger than me. I was Mum's helper, even thoughIwasstillatschool.

IwasfourteenwhenCarolandSusanwereborn,andbecause my mother needed help, I didn’t return to school in the following year to complete the Intermediate Certificate. So my education ended. But that didn't worry me because I enjoyed beingMum’shelper.

While Mum was in hospital, a close neighbour cared for the twins, and I took care of my four brothers and father, and did all the household tasks. It was during winter and the sheets froze on the washingline. Onebrothergrumbledabouthaving thesamemealtwonightsrunning(probablyshepherd'spie).

‘You'regoingtowhingeaboutyourdinner,areyou?’Isaidto him. To teach him a lesson, I opened the back door and threw hismealoutintothebackgarden enamelplateandall.

‘Ifyouwantyourdinner,goandgetit that'swhereitis!’He never complained again. He was only about eight years old at thetime.

Weneverwentonholidays.Onlyonceayearwewouldgoto oneoftheseasides.Dadusedtosay:‘We'regoingtoSheerness, and you're having one ice-cream each, and that's all you're having.’ Mum would pack tomato sandwiches which were always soggy. We had cousins at Dartford, Kent, who had grownupinSpainbeforecomingtoEngland.Thefirsttimewe wenttovisitthem,Ilovedit.Theymadesuchafussofme,andI would get lots of cuddles, which my own mother never did. It wassodifferentfromourhousehold.

Eventhoughmyfatherhadsevenchildren,hecouldn'tcope. He would work long hours as a plumber and did a lot of work onburstpipes,aswellasworkinginafactorywhichwasabout three kilometres away. He would cycle to work and back, and sometimes in the snow. At weekends he drank quite a bit, but he andIstillhadagoodrelationship probablybecause Iwas the eldest. Times were tough, and Mum was always short of money.

On some Sundays when Dad had come home from the pub, andMumhadbeencookingtheSundayroast,hewouldputon hiscoatandtrilbyhat.

WhereareyougoingDad?’I'daskhim.

‘Noneofyourbusiness,’he’dreply.

‘I know where you're going, and I'm coming with you,’ I wouldsay.

Mumwouldquicklywashmyfaceandtellmetoputonanice dress,andbythen,Dadwasalreadywalkingdowntheroad.I'd havetoruntocatchhimupandclingtohisarm;andhe’dtryto shake me off until he gave in. We would catch the train to Dartford, and if I didn't do that with Dad, I would never have goneoutanywhere.

The other thing Dad did when he came home from the pub on a Sunday was to sit in the front room with the News of the Worldnewspaper.Hewouldshutthedoortokeepthechildren out,becauseDadwasn'tmuchinterestedinanyofhischildren.

Mumusedtosaytome,‘GoandseeifyourDad'sgotapound notebecauseI'mveryshortofmoney.’

So I would go in and curl up on his lap and rub him on the topofhishead.

‘Dad, Mum's short of money. Have you got a pound note in yourpocket?

’No,Ihaven't,’hewouldreply.

‘Shereallyneedsit,’I’dplead.

‘Here, give that to your mother.’ It was awful that Mum had tosendhiseldestdaughtertotryandgetmoneyfromhim.But manytimessheworeshoesthatleakedinthesnow.

Even with seven children, my mother was a very kind woman.Welivedinourstreetforalongtime,andMumwould gointoshakeoutthematsforaneighbourwhohadabadback. But no one ever offered to give Mum a lending hand. I can’t help but think that she is still here at the age of ninety-two because she had always been such a good person, and even though she has a bit of Alzheimer’s, she is still positive and enjoys life. She tells everyone she's not old and she hopes to cometoAustraliaoneday although,that'snotreallypossible.

Therewasalittlecornershopattheendofthestreetwhere Mumwouldsendmetoaskforfoodtobeaddedtoherbill.She neverwrotemealist,andwouldrattleoffooditems,soIwould headfortheshopmemorisingtheentirelist.

OnceIturnedfifteen,myjobsearchbegan.Myfirstwasina butcher's shop one side of the shop was a butcher and the othersidesoldgroceries.IstayedthereuntilIwasseventeento start work at another grocery store. A school friend, Jane, was workinginthesameshop,butshewasalsoinstageproduction, pantomimes and so on. She then joined the circus. I would go home and tell Mum thatI would like tojoin the circus too. My mother didn't say: ‘You can't do that.’ Instead, she said: ‘Well, youcangotothecircusandseeforyourselfwhatit'slike.’

SoIwenttothecircuswithafriend,Pat. ItwasonClapham Common in London. We met Jane who showed us around the circus. She lived in a tiny little caravan with six other girls. Whenitwasgettingquitelatethatnight,Patwasgettingalittle toey.

‘We should go and catch the train home or we’re going to missit.’

‘Ohno,IthinkI'llstay.JanesaidIcouldstayifIwantedto,’I responded. So Pat caught the train home alone, and I stayed withJane.

We all lived in the caravan, and there was a bucket that we all used for toileting purposes and right under my nose. Before long, I went home and told Mum that I hadn’t liked it much.Thatwasagoodlifelessonformetopassontomyown children, and that was what I did. I would always tell my children to try things out first to see how they like it; if they don’ttry,theywouldneverknow.

SeveralyearspassedbywhereIworkedinacoupleofhotels bytheseathatwerebothrunbyfamilies.Ireallyenjoyedthat.I still went home every weekend to help Mum with money and buyextrathingsformysisters.

I must have had very itchy feet, in retrospect, because I wound up working for the Navy, Army and Air Force Institute (NAAFI) in 1966. With them, Iworked atairports in Germany, servingsandwichesandteatopeoplewhowereabouttocatch flights;andIdidthatforawhile.

I really had no intention of marrying early, which in those days,waswhenyouwereaboutnineteenandtwenty. Theday Imetmyhusband,Iwasworkingin a dockyard, where Idida rangeoftasksinseveralstores.Isawhimworkinginoneofthe stores.

‘He must be new, and he's got a suntan too,’ I said to my friend.YourarelyseesuntansinEngland.

Shereplied,‘Yes,heisnice.Wouldyoulikemetogooverand askhimifhe'dgooutwithyou?’

‘Okay then,’ I said. And so she did, and he said yes. So we wentout,andIbelieveitwasloveatfirstsight.

We dated for about six weeks and he then proposed. I thoughtitwasabitsoonaswedidn’t knoweachotherallthat well.Weleftitforanothermonth,andthenheaskedmeagain. I really did like him and he did seem to be a nice person, so I accepted.AfterIacceptedhisproposal,heinformedmethathe hadappliedtoemigratetoAustralia,andaskedifIstillwanted

to marry him. I only thought about it for a moment, so at twenty-two, I said yes. I didn't like England all that much anyway,eventhoughIwasveryclosetomymotherandsisters.

SoIwenthometotellmyfamilythenews.

‘Mum,I'mgoingtoget married!’Icalledupthestairs.There wassilence.

And then she said: ‘I knew this would happen that you wouldbringnewslikethistome.’

‘Butthat'snotall I'memigratingaswell.’Therewasalong silence,andthenaclunk.

With my shock announcement, she had dropped the cup of tea on thefloor!Yearslater, IdiscoveredthatDadhadwanted her to convince me not to leave. But she didn't because I had alwaysbeenagreathelptoher,andshedidn’twanttodenyme myhappiness.That’sthekindofladysheis.

So we were married and emigrated within ten months of meeting.Manyoftherelativessaid:‘Thatwasveryquick,isshe pregnant?’ButIwasn't.Theprocesswasalldoneveryquickly. Wewereknownasthe‘10PoundPoms’,theAussietermused to describe English migrants who paid ten pounds to settle in thiscountry.Australiawasdesperatelyseekingpeopletosettle here.

Myhusbandevenhadajobtogoto theBHPsteelworksin Newcastle.Asnewarrivals,wewereputupinlittlecabins,but I didn't like it there so we soon moved out. As we were both working, we had enough money to find ourselves a unit. All of our belongings only filled one suitcase as we were waiting for ourweddingpresentstoarrivebyship.Wehadnosaucepanor even a knife or fork, so some basic essentials were borrowed fromsomeverykindpeople.

We had lived in Newcastle for a year when I became pregnant with our eldest son, Tony. The steelworks was suffering a bit financially, and my husband spotted a good job advertisedinVictoriaatAlcoaAluminiumwhereheworkedin asmelter.Whenoursonwasabouteightmonthsold,wewent to Ocean Grove. It was very isolated there at the time, and the buses didn't regularly go to Geelong, the biggest town nearby.

Hisworkhadfoundusthisplacetorent,butastimewentby,I becameveryhomesick.

‘YougoovertoEnglandandtakeTonywithyou Iknowyou won'tstaythere,’myhusbandsaid.

Justtakingafewpersonalessentials,mysonandIembarked on an emigration ship back to England. The ship wasn't very nice wewererightdownatthebottom thecheapestcabins. And we shared a cabin with six other people. However, we didn'tknowitatthetime,butmysonTonyhad attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Tony was only about eighteen months old, crying and wanting his father. He couldn't understandwhatwashappening.

Within a week our cabin was empty; all cabin mates had asked to be moved. It was not a nice trip. Young Tony got the measleseventhoughhehadbeenvaccinatedagainstit.Hewas put into the ship's hospital, and was there for a week, but the staffwouldn'tletmeseehim.AnAustraliannursetoldmethat Tony had almost died, but no one had notifiedme at the time. PoorlittleTonywasverythinwhenhecameout.

To buildTonyup, Iclimbedseven flightsofstairseveryfew hourstogethisbottleofmilk.ItriedtogetasmuchasIcould into him. There was only one lady whose husband was in a wheelchair that helped me out. When I put Tony to sleep, I wentupwhereotherpassengerstalkedtome.

The voyage took six and a half weeks, and as we came into Southampton, I looked down and saw Tony with his head throughthebarsonthedeck.Ihadtogetafewpeopletohelp me,asweturnedhisheadfromsidetosidetoreleasehim.

We stayed with my Mum, and my sisters were now about eleven. I stayed there for a few months, and even got myself a job while Mum looked after Tony. Our roles were now reversed.ItwasnicetoseeeveryonebutIknewIcouldn'tstay. IwasmissingmyhusbandandTonywasmissinghimtoo.

My husband organised for us to fly back, but to get the cheapest flight you had to go on standby. We left London and flew to Singapore, where we waited on standby. In the meantime, Tony became very sick. I didn't know what to do. I approachedtheflightassistant.

‘Mylittle boyis verysick. Doyouthinkyoucouldgetme on the next plane?’ I waited and waited but nothing happened. I thenpickedhimupandputhimonthecountersoshecouldsee howsickhewas.

‘Ican'tlookafterhimanymore—youwillhavetolookafter him.’ Miraculously, she found us a flight immediately and we were soon on the plane. It was pure survival instinct on my part.

When we arrived back in Australia my husband took one look at Tony, who was vomiting over and over again, and we took him to the doctor. The doctor told us to get him to the hospital right away where he stayed for over a week with a virus. All they could do was keep up his fluid and he soon started to recover. When discharged from hospital, Tony lookedlikeaskeleton,andhowhesurvivedI’llneverknow.

While we were away, my husband found another house closer to town so I wouldn't feel so isolated. I found a job working behind a bar in one of the pubs in Geelong and someonemindedTony.

When Tony was four years old, I gave birth to another son, and had to stop working. Having two sons, I desperately wanted a daughter, so I had a third child—another son. So we thenstopped Imayhavecontinuedtohaveboys.

When I was younger I worked in boarding houses, and it then became my dream to run a boarding house of my own. Eventually, we found another house to rent. The new house, also located in Geelong, had two bedroomsinside andanother twobedroomsattachedattheback,withanextratoilet.There was a large lounge room and a huge kitchen. I was unable to workduetoTony'sADHDconsideringmyhusband’sshiftwork and no relatives around to help. When we found that house, I suggestedtomyhusbandthatwetakeinboardersandhesaid: ‘If it makes you happy, then do it.’ Whenever I had an idea, he would always support it, even if he didn't necessarily agree withit.

Sowetookinboarders,andbecauseIwasn’tworking,Iwas abletocookforthem.Istartedoffwithcountrygirlsthatwere going to TAFE, and our two boys shared a bedroom to create

theextraspace.Theywerelovelygirlsandgotonwellwithour boys.

Ididthat for a while whichhelpedtobringin extra income. By1982,Ihadsavedenoughmoneyforthewholefamilytogo toEnglandforaholiday.Butwehadwaitedtoolong.Neitherof theboyswantedtotraveloverseaswhentheygotolder. However in later years, I did take my granddaughter to England when she was four years old (she is now eight). She stilltalksaboutit.SoIthinkshemightbetheonetotravel.

Tony’s ADHD worsened and that made things very difficult as no one knew anything about ADHD back then. Tony would comehomefromschoolandsay:‘Theteacherpulledmeoutof my chair by the hair.’ He also hated being in confined spaces, and the stress of that caused him migraines, and that then wouldcausevomiting;andthisoftenhappenedbeforegoingto school. He didseea psychologistbutshedidn't pickupon the ADHD seeing that they had no knowledge of it at the time. However,shedidinformmethatwhilsthewasnineyearsold, hisbrainwasfunctioningasthoughhewerethirteen.

One day, not long after that my husband had just gone to work on afternoon shift. Tony asked me if he could go to the petrol station to get some petrol for the mower. Because he was more mature than his age, and it was only up the road, I allowedhimtogo.Whenhereturnedheaskedifhecouldpour half of the petrol into the lawnmower, and I watched him do that. I was feeding our youngest child in the highchair, when tenminuteslater,Iheardtheloudestscream.Irantotheback doorandTonywasrunningdownthegardenpathinflames.He had petrol and matches a lethal combination. Wearing a plasticparkathathadnotbeenzippedup,Iattemptedtopullit offhim asitstuck tohis skin. He wassoburnt. Iran toget ice outofthefreezerandputitalloverhim,andhejustscreamed … and screamed … and screamed … Even now when I hear a loudscream,ittakesmebacktothatday.

I phoned a friend to take us to the hospital because the ambulance would have taken too long. Her father drove us to the hospital and every traffic light was red. I will always

rememberit.Iyelled:‘Don'tstop,don'tstop,don'tstop!’Buthe hadto,ofcourse.

Anyway, we finally arrived at the hospital where they immediatelyweighedhim.Tonywasstillscreaming.

‘Whyareyouweighinghim?’Iasked.

‘We need to know his weight to know how much morphine togivehim.’Hewasthenadministeredtheappropriatedoseof morphineandaclothwasputoverhim.WhenIwentintosee him, I lifted the cloth, and his whole face wasblack. How I got through that, I’ll never know. The hospital staff explained that the skin does go black, and therefore, it looked worse than it was. After a fewdaystheyrubbeda special cream andhislips werealldistortedandtheburnwentrightdownthesideofhis neck.Wewereadvisedthathewouldneedskingrafts.

When he finally returned to school the other children called him ‘scarface’ and that didn't help his condition or his selfworth,soitonlygavehimreasontowanttoleaveschool.

Beforeheturnedfifteenhecouldn'tstandschoolanylonger.

‘Mum, if I can find a job, can I leave school?’ He asked. I agreed to that arrangement. He left the house and one hour laterhecameback hehadfoundajobinthatshorttime.

‘CanIleaveschoolnow?’

‘Yes, you can leave school now. What kind of a job is it?’ I askedhim.

‘It's car detailing just down the road.’ A few days later I walked by and saw him detailing the car while standing on an orangecratebecausehewasquiteshort.

Later, his father thought an apprenticeship would be good for him, so he decided on French polishing. He did that for three and a half years. During that time, when Tony was seventeen,wecameuptotheTweedforaholiday,andin1985, we decided to move here because Victoria was fairly cold and miserable.Andhavingdonesomuchshiftworkovertheyears, my husband had had enough of it and I was tired of it too. Tonywasquiteahandful,andwehadnorelativestogiveusa breakforawhile.SoweleftTonyinGeelongwithafriendwho offeredtolookafterhimuntilhecompletedhisapprenticeship.

Eventually, the friend told us that she couldn't have Tony stay with her anymore because she discovered that he had been drinking. Having nowhere else to go, he then moved up here. He waseighteen atthe time andthe situation wentfrom badtoworseduetohisdrinking.Hewasonthevergeofbeing a serious alcoholic as a consequence of the ADHD. He didn't know what was wrong with him, so to cover it up and make himself feel better, he drank. Tony wasn’t diagnosed until he was thirty, when it was confirmed that he had the classic ADHD,theworstformofthedisorder.

Tony’s life has continued to spiral downward. He has had eightchildren withfour differentwomen, andIhavecaredfor twoofhischildren.Theolderonewassevenwhenshecameto live with me, and I raised her until she was eighteen. Now I havetheyoungestdaughterwhoiseightyearsold.

My husband and I got married in 1967, and we had many happyyearstogether,althoughwenowliveapart.WhenIlook backonmylife,IrealisewhatachallengingloadTony'sADHD hadbeenonourwholefamily,butIhavestillmanagedtokeep my own personal strength, which has helped me to get from theretohere.

It has made a big difference to be a tenant of North Coast CommunityHousing,asIwaspayingprivaterentalandalways worriedabouthowIwouldcope. Soit’sbeenagodsend,andit evencametomeatChristmas.Ihavebeenhereforaboutseven yearsnow.It’salovelycentrallocation,withabusstopandthe beach nearby. It’s also close to the school, and I can ride my bikeasIdon’thaveacar.Icouldn’twishforanywherebetter.

IRENE

Iwas born in Auburn, a western suburb of Sydney, in 1918, and have just celebrated my ninety-fifth birthday. I grew upwithonlyonebrother.

My father’s home of origin was the Shetland Islands,locatednorth-eastofmainlandBritain,untilhearrived in Australia as a young boy of seventeen. History has it that many crew members of the Spanish Armada were forced to settle in the islands where they married and created a community,remnantsthatstillexisttoday,andI’mcertainthat iswheremyoliveskincomesfrom.

Still a young man, my father had developed polyps in his nasal passage and was admitted to hospital to have them removed. Sadly, what was found was that the polyps had developed into cancer and travelled throughout his body, and hethendiedontheoperatingtable.

I didn’t know a great deal about my father as I was only eightyearsoldwhenhedied.Butmyfondestmemoryofhimis howspecial Iwastohim Iwasdaddy‘slittle girl, andIrecall often sitting on his knee. Being so young, I also didn’t know what questions to ask my mother about him, but what I did know, was that building tennis courts had been his livelihood. Mymothernevermarriedagain,andinfact,shenevershowed aninterestinothermenatall.

For approximately twelve months I attended school at Willoughby until we moved to Wallerawang about fourteen kilometres north-west of Lithgow. I made it to Year 6 at the

localprimaryschool,buttoattendhighschool,Ihadtotakethe bus. For whatever reason, taking the bus to school concerned mymother,soconsequently,shedidn'tallowmetodoso.That waswheremyeducationended.It’sapityreally,asIhadbeen agoodwriter—takingfirstplaceinwritingprojects.

At the age of fifteen, I left home and returned to Sydney where I stayed with an aunty. I found myself work in a cosmetic factory in Surry Hills until I left to marry Stanley whenIwastwenty-one,andwehadthreebeautifuldaughters. For twenty-five years, Stanley and I had a good marriage, but the relationship didn't survive beyond that and we soon split up.

After we separated, I lived close to the beach at Bondi, the perfectlocationtopursuemyloveofsurfing,whichIdidevery day.Tothisday,Istilllovebeingnearthewater.

Many years ago, I visited the Tweed to help out one of my daughterswhohadalreadymovedup.Duringmystay, Ifellin lovewiththeareaanddecidedtomakeitmyhome.

IwasactuallythefirsttenanttoliveintheseunitsandIhave now been here for twenty-one years. I love my unit I can watch people walking past with their dogs and it keeps me occupied.Mygardenhasalsobeenanimportantpartofmylife. When I first moved in, I brought eighty-seven pot plants with me. I still have quite a few, but I haven’t been keeping count lately.

Allthreeofmydaughtersnowliveupthisway inBrisbane, Coolangatta and Broadbeach. I am most fortunate to have a goodrelationshipwithmygirls,andallthreearegoodtome.I onlyhaveonegrandchild,andonegreat-grandchild.

At ninety-five, I’m proud to say that my brain is still functioning normally, and I know this because I’ve had all the necessarytests.MyeyesightisalsoperfectasIcanstillthreada needlewithoutglasses.Mysightissogood,thatIcanevensee things my daughters can’t. I do suffer from a sore back, but consider myself lucky to be able to walk. To stay out of a nursinghome,Ipushmyselftowalk(whenIamable)withmy wheelie walker around my yard a couple of times, and up and

downasmallhill.Otherthanthat,Iamhealthy,andpeopletell meIlookverygoodformyage.

Message from Barbara

WhenIarrivedtoconductthisinterview,Imetalovelylooking ladywithawalkernearthefrontofthebuilding.Iaskedifshe wasIrene,towhichshe replied yes.Irenethenshowedmeher potted flower garden it was so beautiful. It was obvious that she gets much enjoyment from the array of beautiful and colourful flowers, even though she can no longer look after them herself. With her love of the beach and her garden, it playsabigroleinkeepingIreneyoungandpositive.

ISABEL

An Adventurous Life

Iwas born in Maitland in 1946. Maitland is a city in theLowerHunterValleyof New South Wales, and is one of three cities that include Newcastle and Cessnock. I am the youngest of five children and have two brothers and two sisters.When myfather met Mum atthe beginningofthe war, he alreadyhadthree children,andIcame alongone yearafter thewarwasdeclaredover.

My father was in the army, and he was also a man of many talentswhocoulddoelectricalwork,plumbingandmuchmore. HewasonlyfourteenwhenhisfatherdiedandtheDepression hit, and he had no choice but to go on the road and find work wherever he could to help support the family. He earned a penny a day working all hours from Monday to Friday, and wouldthenrushbackhome,travellingtwentytothirtymilesto hand over the earnings to his mother. Out of necessity, they wereaveryhard-workingfamily.

WhenIwasachild, Mumworkedatthehospitalforawhile andwasthenofferedajobasahousekeeperforalargemining family.Oneday,IwenttoseeMumattheirhomeandwastold to go around to the back door. In those days, I didn’t understand ’class’ distinctions, and when I entered the back door, my mother was down on her hands and knees polishing thefloors.Itmademefeellikea‘poorgirl’ .

That night I asked my father if we were poor and his reply was: ’No, you have your brothers and sisters, and we have a

roofoverourheads,butMumworkssothatyoucanhaveyour annual holiday.’We alwaysholidayedata beachhouseat Port Stephens and later my father built a house there, so we were not as poor as I thought. It had never occurred to me that motherwouldworksohardjusttogiveusayearlyholiday.

One day, I went to school and overheard a girl tell other students that my mother was a servant. I was horrified and offended and cried out: ’My mother’s my mother and she works, which is more than what your mother does.’ I was too upsettorealisethatIwasbeingterriblyrude.TheonlybeingI wasever afraidof, wasGod. Iwasn'tafraidofanyoneelseand hadnoproblemstandinguptoanyone.

IwasveryyoungwhenItookupcompetitiveswimmingand I used to race against Ilsa Konrads for a position in the Olympics.Ilsawasafreestyleswimmerofthe1950sand1960s who won silver in the freestyle relay in the Rome Olympics in 1960.

When competing with her, I came up with a theory that would motivate me to try my hardest. Bananas were rare in thosedays,butIreallylovedbananaonbreadrolls.IfIwereto try my very best, I figured that I would earn myself a banana breadroll.Andboy,didIswimmyheartouttogetthatbanana bread roll! I beat Ilsa, she beat me, and then I would beat her again. She was a year older than me, and in those days, the management of the Olympic team were very strict and it was onlybytheskinofherteeththatshemadeitintheteam,asshe wasthirteen,andIwasonlyeleven.However,Iwasdevastated becauseIwasn’teligible.

IrememberbeingatschoolandstandingoutsidetheMother Superior’s office one day thinking, what the hell, she can’t hurt me. I did respect people but I wasn’t afraid of them. I had always been a chatterbox and it often got me into trouble. But thistime Iwascalledintoher office soshecouldtell me that I hadwonanArtAward,anditwasatthatpointwhenIdecided to become an architect. But Mother Superior didn’t seem to agreewithme.

‘No,youwillbeputintoaclasswhereyouwilllearnhowto cook and sew. The most you could aim for is to be an air hostess.’

As my father was working at BHP, I was awarded a scholarship from them, and another from the Timber Board. The two combined added up to twenty-one thousand pounds. Thatwasenoughmoneytoputmethroughuniversity.Itwasa fair way to travel to Newcastle, so just as the Volkswagens cameout,myfatherboughtoneforme.

Ihadbeen marriedsince Iwassixteen anda halfyearsold, and eventually, I was granted entry into university which I didn’t think I would get. I was the first woman to attend the University of Newcastle, and was pregnant every year. I later attendedMonashUniversity.

By the time I turned twenty-five, I had five children and a BachelorofArtsdegree.Iwasaverydeterminedyoungwoman andwouldn’tallowanythingtostopme,untilahealthproblem emergedthe followingyear. Itwascancer. All Icouldgetfrom my family were tears, but Dad, the practical man that he was, simply marched into the room and said: ’Well girl, you’ve just got another challenge toovercome.’ And that was so typical of him.Hehadmetandovercomeeverychallengeinhislife...and thatwasthat.SoIjustgotonwithmylifeandfamily.Ihadlost twochildrenbuthadtheotherfive.

One thingledtoanotherandIfoundmyselfdivorcedatthe young age of thirty. I was considered a disaster to my family becauseIworkedwhenitwasn’tcommonforwomentowork.I married too young, and now I was divorced which was shamefulin1969.

Ialsocouldn’tcopewithmymother.SheabusedmewhenI was young and Dad would put her away in a mental health facility at Morriset where she was given shock treatment. But people didn’t talk about such things back then. It was all kept veryquiet.

An overseas job was offered to me and I accepted the opportunity, and that was the start of my big adventure. I woundupworkinginseventeencountries.Mychildrenwerein boarding school as I had married a doctor, and that had been

the agreement (although, that marriage didn’t last). However, during the school holidays, I would come back to spend time with them. But I did enjoy meeting wonderful people from diverse cultures? To me, life is like the walkways you see at airportswhere peoplegoalongthe journeywithyouandthen theygetoff,andthenotherpeoplegeton.Ifindthatallpeople teachmesomething.

Architecture took me around the world, until I decided to change my career path to bush nursing. So I went back to studying andqualifiedmyself as a nurse. I loved working with people.

I travelled overseas for short-term contracts, and I became an adopted official ‘friend’ of the High Commissioner of the Australian Embassy, and Middle Eastern Embassy. This meant that when visitors arrived from overseas, I was a member of the official party to meet them at the airport. It was also my role to attend every function and advise the overseas visitor aboutanythingtheydidn’tunderstandabouttheirguests.

That was actually quite amusing at times. One day the EgyptianAmbassadorpulledatrickonhisguests.Hewantedto knowwherehecouldshootagoatbecausehewantedtoserve goat at a dinner. I was absolutely horrified and said: ‘People won’teatgoat.’Consequently,hegotholdofagoatanyway,and cooked it in Egyptian style, but didn’t tell his guests what was being served, and funnily enough, everyone came up for seconds. It was amazing! He later told everyone what he had served, and two women suddenly felt sick. It was purely psychologicalasthegoatreallydidtastelikelamb.

SoIlearntagreatdealaboutdifferentcultures,anditwasa wonderful experience. For the Australian Ambassador, I was often invited to various functions to chat about the Hunter Valley which they always enjoyed. Having grown up there, I hadabroadknowledgeofthearea,wineriesandmore.

Every embassy would invite all kinds of people to dinner, even those who worked as garbage collectors. That was what theyweretherefor:tomeetpeoplefromallwalksoflife.

FromthetimeIwaseighteenyearsold,Isailed16and18ft yachts,andthenstoppedgoingtothe functions,untilIhadmy

eyeonaboatcalled‘WildThyme’.Shewasabeautifulwooden sailing boat, 60 ft in length, and fitted out with kauri. I fell in lovewithit,andthenboughtit.ItwassoexcitingformethatI joined the Cruising Squadron, and ‘Wild Thyme’ was to be my cruising yacht. I loved the idea so much that I enrolled in a course in Wellington with Penny Whiting of Whiting Yachts, andhadthreeweeks’tuitiononhowtohandlealargerboat,at which point, she invited me to join her crew to race, which I accepted.

Imetamarinearchitectandboughtoneofhis30ftyachtsto competeincruisingraces.SoIcompetedintheAucklandtoFiji race for two years, and then took part in the third race, even though my instincts were telling me not to. It was the time when one yacht went down which stopped the race while we all searchedforthe crew, anda couplewererescued. Tomake mattersworse,whenwearrivedintoharbouratSuvaandwere tying up, I looked up and saw what I thought to be lots of policemen running about, but they turned out to be soldiers with large guns. They came on board and told us to put our hands up, but I put mine down and a soldier pushed me overboard. I got back up and he pushed me again. Crew members in the next boat were two American detectives with the Sheriff’s Department, and they said: ’Do as you are told.’

And that was when I realised we were in trouble. I thought it was because we had taken one body on board. It wasn’t until wearrivedattheSuvaYachtClubthatwediscoveredtherewas arebellion.

After four dayswe werepermittedtoflyout. ButIoptedto stay, and rather than be locked up, I stayed on board and the chap in the next boat did too. We became friends, and consequently, I sailed around the world with him and we had lotsofadventuresinourtravels.

When we were in Cyprus, the American Express office had been blown up, and we worried about how we were going to accessourmoney.Thatnight,we’dgonepastaderelicttaverna which had a wonderful sign of a turtle hanging. It would have looked great on a houseand I really wanted to take it. I didn’t want to steal it, and if anyone had been around, I would have

offered to pay for it, but it was the devilment of taking somethingfromadilapidatedsitethatwastempting.

As I crept up the stairs, I could hear sounds. The retired detectivesaid,’Comedownfromthere,you’regoingtofall.’

’No,thereissomenoiseuphere—comeonup,’Iresponded. So he followed me up the stairs and a door opened and we found ourselves in a taverna that was still functioning in this dilapidatedbuilding.HowluckyIdidn’ttakethesignorIwould havefoundmyselfintrouble.

The night ended up with me being treated like Cleopatra. Women didn't go to tavernas in Greece, and the men were fascinated with me while popping grapes into my mouth. I’d never been fed grapes before. Charles was a Deputy Sheriff from Los Angeles, and a man having a drink revealed that his namewasSheriff,sohethoughtthatheandCharlessharedthe samename,sotheystartedtalking.Theysatmeuponthebar, anditturnedouttobethebestnightI’deverhad.

The following day, Sheriff offered to take us to his parents’ home. So we set off in a hired car, and going up the mountain we hit a little lamb that had belonged to Sheriff’s parents. We felt so awful that Charles paid them money. But we had a wonderful day in the family home. It was just a lean-to where theparentslivedwhilethesheepgrazedatalowerlevel.They madetheirownhomebrew,anditwassostrong!Weatelamb stewandhomemadebread,anddranktheir home-madebrew. Wejusttalkedandtalked.Hismotherwassoweatheredonthe outside,butinside,shewasthemostbeautifulperson.Shewas crochetingandImentionedthatmysistercrochetedtoo,andat the end of our visit, she wrapped her creation in newspaper and gave it to me as a gift. It was a handkerchief crocheted around the edge. I was overwhelmed by her generosity, and I still have it today. The mother was very excited to meet us, alwaysreferringtoherson’sname, andthatseemedtoforma connectionforher.

WehadsomeamazingexperiencesinCyprus.Whenvisiting Nicosia,thecapitalcity,wewenttohaveacoffeeonedaywhen the proprietor approached us and said: ‘Down, down, down.’ And just as he said that, bullets were suddenly fired; and then

shots were being fired from our side in retaliation for about fiveminutes.Oncetheshootinghadceased,theproprietorthen calmly said: ‘Right, coffee?’ I was stunned by what had just happened.

’They must fire at us and we must fire at them,’ the proprietor explained. ‘Otherwise the United Nations would leave us. Very, very bad.’ Apparently, they have to fight every nowandagain,inaveryprearrangedway,becauseitkeepsthe United Nations there, and that money helps to sustain the island.

I consider myself very lucky. I put up no barriers, so whereverIgoIcantalktoanyone,andbecauseofthat,Igetto meetthemostamazingpeople.Isailedaroundtheworldtwice and spent six years at sea. By this time, my children were getting married and I thought it was time to return to land. However,Ididracewhenevertheopportunityarose.

Oneday,Ireceivedaphonecallatworkfrommysistertolet me know that my mother had been rushed to hospital. So I proceeded to make arrangements to fly home to see her, but hadtoensuremyboatsweresecureandthatIhadsomeoneto look after them. I was at the marina when a man approached meandsaid:‘I’vebeenaskedtotakeyouhome.There’sbeena problem.’Iimmediatelywonderedifmychildrenwereallright. Just before we got to the hill he stopped the car, and said ‘Before we go any further, I just need to tell you that your househasburntdownandthefireisstillburning.That'swhyI hadtocomeandgetyou I’maFireInspector.’

The news shook me badly. But somehow, I still had to fly home tomymother. He loanedme ten thousanddollarstoget mehome,butitwasn'tenough,andallmydocumentshadbeen destroyedin the fire.Ihadtohurrytothe Australian Embassy to get myself an emergency passport. I was told an investigationwouldbeheld,butinvestigationornot,Istillhad togohome.

I finally arrived home and saw to Mum, and soon had everythingsortedout.

WhatwasleftofmyhousewasbulldozeddownandIrebuilt itmyself.Onedayacarpulledupoutside,andbeforeIknewit,

theoccupantsweredigginguponeofmyhibiscusbush!Iwent outtotellthemoff,butinstead,wegottotalking,andtheman eventually asked me: ‘I don’t suppose you’re interested in sellingyourplace?’Mumwasstillveryill,soIdecidedtoaccept his offer. He asked to see the plans, and bought it, right then andthere.Becausethebuyerneededtomoveinbeforehiswife arrivedfromAmerica,wesettledinsevendays, Ifeltitwastherightthingtodo.I’dlivedinNewZealandfor twenty-eight years, and the children were growing up although,itwasnothingformetoflyacrossandseethem.Ihad livedinfourcountries,andwhenIcamebacktoAustralia,Ihad the proceeds from the sale of the house, but half of that I divided between my children, and the other half I kept for myself.Thatwasin1989.

BackinMaitlandwithmymother,ImetupwithamanwhoI knew from school, and three months later we were married. Michael had his own heritage home so I put my money into that.Afterhisbrotherpassedaway,myhusbanddecidedtosell the house and we moved to Forster on the Central Coast, and soon opened up a beauty school which we kept going for six years. Somehow, I had managed to complete a beauty course andobtainadiplomainteaching.Iamneveridle.WhenIseean opportunity, I just go for it. However, I became sick again, so we sold our business and moved up to northern New South Wales.

MichaelandIthenbecameinvolvedinaproperty,runninga beauty business and restaurant. I put money into setting it up andmysonworkedtheretoo.Weranitlikethatforayearand itwashardwork,andthenthecancerflaredupagain.

Onedaywearrivedatworkandnoticedthattherewereno cars,andeverythingwaslockedup.Theonlywaytogetinwas to break a window, and that was when we discovered that everythinghadgone.SoIraceduptothechefattherestaurant onlytofindhimsittinginthegarden,shakinghishead hehad losteverythingtoo.Theownerofthepropertyvanished,andit would seem, that we had been conned. I had put a lot of my moneyintoourbusinessandweendeduptakinghimto court.

But in the end, we lost our home, as we had no choice but to sellittopaythelegalcosts.

And then one night my husband found a new lump on my breast.Itwasdiagnosedascancerwhichrequiredmetohavea mastectomy. During that time, I had another beauty parlour whichmyhusbandwastryingtorun,buthedidn’tunderstand enough about the business. The girls kept asking for more money,sohecloseditdown.

When I came home after three months in hospital, I soon returned for chemo and radiation therapy at the same time. Unfortunately, I had an adverse reaction and spent twelve months in hospital. It was a very worrying time for my husband,andvery hardon him. My sister came up and stayed to help me, and was at the hospital every day. She would go homeforawhileandreturnagain.Betweenher,Michael,Craig, my son, and without prayers and God, I would have died. The doctors expected me to die anyway. But I was too stubborn to givein.

Ithencamehomeforayearandwehadanothercourtcase to try and get our money, but instead, it took all our money. Thecourtawardedhimsevenyearstosellthepropertydueto the difficulty of selling properties of that size quickly. Once sold,hewasexpectedtousetheproceedsofthesaletopayus whatwasowed.

Well, the seven years have long gone and we still haven’t seen the money. In the meantime, the cancer returned twice andit’snowinmybones,soIhaveabackbraceandbraceson mylegs.

That’swhenMichaelandIseparated.Wehadnohome,we’d lostall our money,andhe starteddrinking,heavily. The stress justbecametoooverwhelming.Butwearestillfriendstoday.

We’d had our name down for housing and people often made negative comments about it. But I believe it’s your state of mind that determines how you view public housing. I can't bear it when people say offensive things about the Housing Commission, as I know from living in Maitland after the war, what the Housing Commission did for people. It gave them a home.

Eventually, we had to go bankrupt and that was the final straw. I got sick again, followed by more chemotherapy. Then we had to fill out forms, and at the back of it, it asked: ‘Would you be interested in Community Housing?’ My husband said: ‘Yes.’Hewasdesperatetohavesomewherewecouldcallhome, andwhereIwouldbeneardoctors.

As if that wasn’t enough, life continued to throw us one challengeafteranother.Oneday,Ineededtobeinthesunand Michaeltookmeoutforadrive.Duringthistime,Craig,myson, had come down with bowel cancer. He was so bad that sometimes my husband had to carry him to the car. As strong asIwas,thatwasjusttoomuchforme.

Whenwearrivedhome,wefoundanoteunderthedoorleft byMariafromNorthCoastCommunityHousingtoaskthatwe contact her urgently. Michael phoned Maria immediately and wastold:‘Ihaveaplaceforyou.ItwouldbejustrightforIsabel as it’s modified for a person with a disability, and whatever way her condition progresses, Isabel will be all right. You will be able to call it home.’Maria didwarn us however, that if we didn't accept the offer, our name would go down the list. But webothlovedit,andsignedupimmediately.

Itwassucharelief.Eventhoughwehadtomoveinwithina fortnight and lost our bond from our previous rental, it was wellandtrulyworthit.Myhealthhadbeengoingdownhill,and after moving in, I began to pick up again. I believe it was becauseIhadalwaysownedmyownhome,andatlast,wehad apermanenthomeagainwhichgaveusasenseofsecurityand belonging.

JULIAN

My grandfather was a jeweller who moved to Wagga from Cornwall, England. Over time, he observed how Wagga was developing and eventually became a real estate agent andthenthetownauctioneer. He became a veryprosperous man who had a son and two daughters, one of whom was mymother.

I was born in Wagga, and went to school there for quite a few years. My mother later remarried and we moved to the eastern suburbs of Sydney Bondi, Coogee and eventually Maroubra—wherewelivedformanyyears.Ihavetwoyounger sistersandabrotherwhoisnowdeceased.

Whengoingtohighschool,myfriendssawanadvertisement one day looking for labourers to work on a large building site, sowetookonthework,andwaggedschooltodoit.Acoupleof my friends found that they couldn’t cope with the manual labour. But I could, because I had worked the milk runs and delivered groceries after school, so I was a little stronger than the others. The money was terrific. They said to me when I started:‘Ifyoucan doa man’swork, yougeta man’spay.’SoI left school as soon as I could. I completed my Intermediate CertificateinYear9,andhadnodesiretogofurther.

Ihadalwaysbeengoodatschool,andwasalwaysinthetop three in class. I was alsogood at arts. At school, I was actively involved in sport and we used to win the swimming and

running competitions. We had a running carnival and a swimming carnival every year, and coming from an ocean suburb,Ihadlearnttoswimreallywell.

Itravelledafairbittothecountry.Therewasaplacecalled ’Boys on Farms’ where we could find a job in the country, soI didthatacoupleoftimesandreallyenjoyedit.Ithenreturned tothecitytosettledownandstay.

A devout Christian, I grew up with a strong interest in the church.MygrandfatherhadbeentheMethodistChurchwarden and the church organist in Wagga. During the Depression, the Lodge thatmygrandfather belongedtodidwhattheycouldto helpthelessfortunate.

Like any other young person, I socialised quite a bit while continuing to work. I always looked after myself, and dressed smartly, so finding a girlfriend was never a problem. At one stage,Ididmarry,butitdidn’tworkout.Mymother-in-lawwas not a well woman. My wife's father had passed away earlier, andshehadtokeepgoingtoMelbournetocareforhermother, and with the continual long separations, my wife and I just grewapart.Itwasveryunfortunate,butImovedon.

Beingactiveandathletichadoncebeenabigpartofmylife. My drawers are full of trophies for running and swimming which I keep as mementos of my past. Every now and again I feel a little down, so I look at them to remind me of the good times. When Ilookat thesereminders, Isayto myself:’You’ve doneitbefore,youcandoitagain.Pickyourselfup.’

All in all, my life has been good. I don’t smoke, drink or gamble. With a good Methodist upbringing, I chose not to get involvedinanyofthatrot.IhavealwaysbeengladthatIhadn’t takenupdrinking,asIhaveseenmyworkpeerswastemuchof their earnings drinking all weekend. We always had money. Mumencouragedustoopenabankaccountandsavewhenwe first left school, and she would then check our bank books to see if any withdrawals had been made. That instilled the idea frommyyoungerdaystospendmymoneywisely.

The change of circumstances many years ago forced me to put my name on a housing waiting list. It all started with asthma, and later I developed pneumonia, which affected my

healthandthenmyabilitytowork.SoIputmynamedownand eventually a place came up in South Coogee. It was a pretty wild suburb in those days and there were many large housing estatesaroundthere.

Some trouble began to emerge where residents were out drinking and being quite disruptive, so I spoke to the neighbours and we formed a type of ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ . Our watch had some of these troubled residents moved elsewhere,andourlivesbecamepeacefulagain.

WhenwelivedinMaroubra,Ioftenwenttothelocaltheatre toseeplays,andonenightIsaid:‘I’dliketodothat.’Everyone repliedwith:‘Ohweknowyou,ofcourseyouwill.’

So I did. I played the role of Sir Thomas Moore, and after having some luck with that, I thought I’d go further. I wrote a coupleofplays,andwona$1,000ArtsGrant.Thatmoneywent to a dramaturg—a person who assists with the editing of new plays to help improve the quality. So I was very pleased with theoutcome.

Once I achieve something, I am always on the lookout for another challenge. At one stage, I wrote for the Labor Party papers, essentially because I had worked for the Daily Mirror newspaper in Sydney as a proofreader, so I acquired knowledge of what was required for writing articles. I also wrote articles for another local eastern suburbs paper and for the Bulletin forSouthSydneyJuniors.

Byron Bay is now my home. The town has changed greatly since Ifirstcameherewiththe surfclub manyyearsago.Iget along with everyone in the block I live in, and I know many locals in town. I enjoy the pubs in Byron as they offer good musicatnight.LikeIdidinmyyoungerdays,Istillliketodress in nice clothes, and dancing is one pastime I never tire of. My two sisters have their own families now and live in the area too,soItakepleasureinspendingtimewithmyfamily.

Ienjoyhavingthesecurityofbeingalong-termtenantwith NorthCoastCommunityHousing.

KEN

My twin brother and I were born in Carlton, Victoria, in 1939. Therehadalsobeentwingirls, butsadly, theydiedbefore we were born in 1937 one was stillborn, and the other died shortlyafterbirth.Itwashard back in those days. Actually, everythingwashardthen,just prior to the Second World War, and my brother and I just happened to be born in the same month and year the war began.

MyfirstrecollectionwaslivinginRichmond,Victoria,which waswithin walkingdistance ofthe Melbourne CricketGround. Untilwewerenine,mygrandparentslivedacrosstheroad,and we then moved to Mordialloc, just twenty-four kilometres south-eastofMelbournecentral.Ilovedlivingthere,aswehad the best of both worlds. It was a beach suburb, but it was country too, and we were able to have a cow that needed milkingtwicea day. Iattendedschoolin Mordiallocandleftat theageoffourteen.

My brother, Keith, and I started work at Moran & Cato’s grocers for eighteen months. I was then offered an apprenticeshipinthebuildingtrade,whereIstayeduntilIwas seventeen, and at that tender age, both Keith and I joined the RoyalAustralianNavy.Becausemysecondnamehadnotbeen registered,itwasremovedfrommynavalrecords.Sotherewe were Keith and I, in the navy with the same initials. On paydayswehadtowaitinalonglineforthepayrollofficersto

gothroughthealphabetandgetto: K, Ke,then Kei,soKeithwas alwayspaidfirst.Thisroutinewentonforsixyears.

When we were young, my brother and I got ourselves into all sorts of strife. Sometimes we swapped identities and went outwiththeotherone’sgirlfriend—I’msureallidenticaltwins have done it. We don’t think it’s all that unusual, but apparently,itdoesshocksomepeople.

I was in the Fleet Air Arm and workedon the flight deck of the carriers the ’Sydney’ and the ’Melbourne’. On the ‘Melbourne’,Iworkedasafirefighter.Onthe‘Sydney’,Iwasan aircrafthandler,whichwasliningupaircraftsfortakeoff.Itwas adangerousoccupation,butIdidgettosee someoftheworld fromtheageofeighteen.Ilovedthejobandshouldneverhave leftit.Ithinkanyonewhohasworkedintheserviceswouldsay that.Ofcourse,therewasadownsidebutyoudon’tremember that,youonlyrememberthegoodthings.

AfterIleftin1963,IjoinedtheNavalReserveandstayedfor five years. I then left the navy altogether and joined the Fire Brigade in Newtown and Botany in Sydney. I made it to First Class B Firefighter, and then due to ill health, I had to leave. After that, I found a job with Wormald testing fire systems. However, I blacked out in the shower one morning and they didn’tbelieveIshouldcontinuefightingfires.Itriedtohavemy superannuation released, but the company wouldn’t do that. They claimed I had a mild form of epilepsy, but I have my doubts,asIdon’thaveseizuresoranythinglikethat.

IthenwoundupworkingforDunlopsellingtyres,anditwas my job to travel around the Sutherland Shire. I became their top salesman for at least two years, until I found a job with Castrol as an oil company representative. I really liked that job it was a great company to work for. I was with them for sometime,butbeingyoungandfoolish,IleftCastrolandwent to work for Sanyo. It was around the time when colour televisions were first released during the 1970s. Sanyo presentedmewitha1Asalesawardandthecompanyoffereda triptoJapan for seven days, andfour daysin HongKong. That tripstirredthetravellingbugwithinme.

In1975,Iwasinadvertisingandworkedacrossthreestates, andaftereightmonths,IwaspromotedtoAdvertisingManager atthe Liverpool Champion newspaperwhereIstayedforabout twoyears.

Eventually, I grew tired of Sydney and moved to northern New South Wales. A job offer was then made at Wormald on the Gold Coast. Again due to ill health, that was where my working career ended, and I had no choice but to go on a disabilitypension.

Iwasmarriedtomyfirstwifein1961.Together,wehadtwo boysandagirl.One ofmychildrenlivesin Melbourne andthe other two live in New South Wales. Unfortunately, I have no contact with my children due to the breakup of our marriage, butIalwaystrytoremainpositive.

However,lifeisgoodnowattheageofseventy-three.Imet Shirley while working in Coolangatta when I first moved here in 1985, and Shirley, who was widowed, was working next door. Coincidentally, she was a twin too, although her brother died very young, and her husband had also been an identical twin.Whataretheodds?

ShirleyandIweremarriedin1986,andwehavebeenhappy ever since. Shirley has four children, twelve grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and counting, so I consider them my family too. My brother is still in my life and he lives in EvansHeadwhichisnottoofaraway.

MywifeandItravelagreatdealwhichwethoroughlyenjoy. WehavebeentoBalitwenty-seventimes,goneonaboutfifteen cruises and made numerous trips to Fiji; we especially love Phuket,Thailand,Fiji,VanuatuandHonolulu.Ihavealsotaken one granddaughter and one great granddaughter on a cruise twice, and one daughter, just recently. And soon, we are off again.

We have been with North Coast Community Housing for thirteenyearsnow.Ithasmeantsomuchtobehereaswehad been doing it rather tough prior to that. I do have a gold card with the Department of Veteran Affairs, and that has helped also.

I remember when we were first offered our home. Shirley andIwereplanningtomovetoCasino,sowewentforthelong drivetoCasinobecausetheHousingCommissionwereoffering us a place there. When we returned home, we received a call fromNorthCoastCommunityHousingtoletusknowthatthey had a place for us here in Tweed. We couldn’t have been happier.

LUKE

Iwas born in Childers, Queensland, where my mother’sfamilycamefrom. I come from a large family of five sisters and two brothers, however three of my sisters died of cancer within five years of each other. Heart diseaseiscommonthroughmy family,butwehadneverencounteredcancerbefore.

I grew up and attended school in Childers until I left at the endofYear10.However,lifeinChilderswasdifficult.Myfather was an alcoholic who basically drank himself stupid, and consequently, my mother became bitter and twisted. Our family grew up in poverty, but somehow we managed to normalise our life as much as possible. Our father did nothing to protect us and we were always behind the eight ball, and never really caught up. That’s what I strive for now; to have a lifethatisbalancedasotherpeoplehave,andhavenicethings.

Iworkedinthebuildingtradeasalabourerforalongtime.I then wenttolivein London. However,Londonwastoocoldto work on building sites. I discovered that most Australians workedinbarsorrestaurants,soIfoundmyfirstjobinapub, andthatcamewithaccommodation.Itwasgreatnothavingto leave the pub to go out in the cold. As I became more experienced, my confidence grew, so I then ventured out to workinrestaurantsbecausetheypaidmore.SoIstayedmainly in the hospitality industry. I worked in restaurants for about threeyearsandmadeenoughmoneytogotoEurope,andthen mademoremoneythatenabledmetocomebacktoAustralia.

It was later in life that I went to university, the Institute of Career Education in Geelong, and studiedFine Arts. I obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in the year 2000 actually, and have been working in creative arts ever since, whether it was teaching art or creating my own artwork. Most of my finished artworksareonexhibition,andIamhavinganexhibitionatthe endoftheyear.

I create indigenous art, and it’s my own unique style by telling a Bundjalung story my way. What I do is referred to as ‘contemporaryaboriginalart’ .

In 1995, I moved to this area because this is where my father’sfamilyarefrom.Iwasgettingolderandfeltitwastime tolookforsomewherethatIcouldcallhome.Iamfifty-twothis year. Unfortunately, health issues emerged that gave me a wake-upcalltostartlivingwell.Goingonmyfamilyhistory,my longevitydidn'tlookgood.

Thereweremanylifestylechanges.ThereasonIhadtofind housing was because I had had a heart attack in 2005 which landed me in the intensive care unit at Lismore Base Hospital. Myconditionwasseriousandthehospitalhadmeimmediately transferred to Prince Alfred Hospital in Brisbane who were better equipped to cope with my condition. Medication was administeredandmyheartunderwentseveraltests,andI was soon scheduled for open-heart surgery within a couple of months.

Mysurgerywasactuallyalife-changingexperienceforme.I havefoundanewlife alifeinwhichItakecareofmyselfand mywellbeing,andmyhomeisatthecentreofallthat.

Priortothat,Ihadbeenlivingaself-sufficientlifeoutinthe hills, where there was no electricity, no garbage service basically, in run-down dwellings. But suddenly, my circumstancesrequiredmetobeclosertoservices.Intheearly days of my recovery, I was afraid of having another heart attack. It took me a long time to overcome that fear, and my doctorhadtoreassuremethatIwasnotgoingtohaveanother heartattack.

So I gave up smoking and drinking, and began to live a healthy life. But having a place that was affordable and

permanent was wonderful too. I couldn’t afford to rent privatelyonmyown,andtheonlyaffordableoptionwasforme tosharewithsomeoneelse.IhadlivedwithpeopleIdidn’tget onwithinthepast,andthatisnevereasy.

At North Coast Community Housing I can afford to live alone, and the major stress of finding accommodation that is affordable is now gone. I even pay my electricity bill before I receive it. My friends are amazed by the quality of my home consideringtheveryreasonablerentIpay.Iknowpeoplewho payhighrentbutdon’twanttobeona publichousingwaiting list.ButIhavesaidtothem:’Whileyouarepayingthatamount ofrent,getyourselfonthewaitinglistandyourturnwillcome.’ Ittookfouryearsformetogetthisplace,butitwasworththe wait.

Myhomeisinanicepartoftownwithlovelyviews.Forthe first time, my house is full of furniture which includes a refrigerator,awashingmachine,alounge,andmore.Recently,I purchased a car when I applied for a Step Up loan of three thousanddollars.Thecarhasafewmonths’registrationandit is the best car I have ever owned, and it is housed in its very owngarage.

I always expected to live in the country, but that arrangementwouldnotberightformenow.Ineedtobeclose toservicesandnearfacilitieswhereIcancontinueteaching.To sell art, I have to be in a place where I can deliver it. People don’tcomeupheretobuymyart,butIhavetofindmybuyers through galleries and so on, and therefore, I prefer to be close to couriers. I don’t sell an awful lot of work, but I need to be abletogetittothebuyerwithinforty-eighthours.It’sallabout beingprofessional.

I never married. I believe I had been affected by the dysfunctionalfamilyIgrewupin.Threeofmysistersdiedfrom cancer and they experienced stress constantly. Whether they didn't feel good enough, didn't fit in, or just experienced anxietyallthetime,ittakesatollonyourhealthandwellbeing. My other sisters are repeating bad habits from our mother after promising themselves that they would never do it. Althoughwedoallloveeachother,andwestillsharethesame

memories of the horrible life we had, which are very hard to erase.

There are enough people on our planet, so I don’t need to bring more children into the world, but I do feel the need to care for the people that are here. So I try to give back to my community on another level by teaching art at Corrective Servicesfromtimetotime.IalsoteachindigenousartatAdult CommunityEducationandoccasionallyatTAFE.

Itellallmystudentsthatcomeintomyclassthatattitudeis all about you. It’s about feeling good about you—finding that innerconnectionwithyourself.Bythetimemystudentsleave,I canseetheyhavemadeashift,andsomeofthemwillcontinue on and become artists, or do something they are truly passionate about. Even though I may not see them for a long time,Istillhaveaconnectionwiththemthatdoesn’tend.

TherearestilltimeswhenIsitupinthemiddleofthenight, hardlybelievingthatIliveinthislovelyplace.Forthatreason,I always speak highly of North Coast Community Housing becauseofferingmethishomehasalteredthecourseofmylife tooneofsecurityandbelonging.

MAIRE

Iwas born in New Zealand in 1979, and was raised in a hippie commune on the west coast of Auckland on the Waitakeri Ranges. It was an amazingplacetogrowupwith its untamed beaches, caves, andfreshwaterlagoonsinthe dunes. There were giant pohutukawa trees, forests with leeches, snakes and spiders. Living a carefree childhood, it was the perfect environment where we could run wild in the bush. But that all changed at the age of five when my parents split up and I moved to Australia with Mum, where she eventually met her new boyfriend,andwewoundupinNimbin.

I soon started school at Nimbin, and lived in a hippie commune where we lived an alternate lifestyle. We had some amazing times living there, where we would frequently get ourselves covered with mud from the bottom of the dam, and run around naked; we picked fruit off the trees, and caught wallabies and snakes. But at the same time, there was also another side of the commune. There were a number of social problems which was why I left just before my fourteenth birthdayandmovedintoayouthrefuge.

Fromthere,IwentbacktoAucklandandspentsometimeon thestreets,livinginsquatsandafewyouthhousingfacilities.I then returned to Australia when I was about fifteen. At seventeen,Ihadhadapartnerforabouteighteenmonthswhen I fell pregnant, and I couldn’t have been happier, because that was what I had been wanting. I was living a difficult and fast

life, and I knew I wouldn’t live long if I continued down the path of drugs, alcohol and partying hard, with no thought for tomorrow. Ieventuallycame to the full realisation that it was time for cleansing it was time for me to take control of my life. So I just happened to mention to my partner that I would liketohaveababy,andbythefollowingmonth,Iwaspregnant. Mylifeturnedaroundfromthatmomenton.

So here I was at seventeen, pregnant, and really needing to get out of the share house I was living in. At the time, new housingwasbeingbuiltinNimbin.Thetimingwasperfectand itjustseemedidealforme.Theaccommodationwasofferedby NorthCoastCommunityHousing,providinganopportunityfor young mothers to take up residence. I applied and moved in three weeks before I was due, so I ‘nested’ before giving birth to my beautiful daughter, Zara. My boyfriend and I were still together at the time, but not for long. We were very different people, with different dreams that would ultimately lead us in oppositedirections,sointheend,webrokeup.

I now had a beautiful home. Setting up house was a memorable experience collecting beautiful fabrics, some of whichIputalloverthewalls.Myfirstcouchwaspulledoutofa rubbish dump, but with a little work, I made it look beautiful. When myboyfriendandIfirstparted, Idecidedthatone dayI would build my own house. With that goal in mind, I drew a picture of the dream home I wanted to live in. I hung the pictureuponthewallnexttomyphoneasaconstantreminder formetovisualisemyselfsittinginmyhouse,tohelpmecreate thatreality.

One of the benefits of living in affordable housing is that I waspayingmuchlowerrentthanmyfriendswhowereleasing in the private rental market. What I didn’t have to pay out in rent,Idecidedtoputitinthebanktosaveforadeposittobuild myownplace.Imadeavisittothebank,andamazingly,Iwas told that if I were to save double the repayments for six months, I would have saved the deposit on a house. So of course,that’sexactlywhatIdid.

WhenIwaseighteen,Ibecameinvolvedinyouthworkinmy local area. I helpedout by opening up the youthclub, cleaning

up local parks, and I helped young people that had rough sleeping arrangements. I really focused my attention on youth work. It wasn’t long after that when my unofficial mentor, LeanneDraper,saidtome:‘Whydon’tyougotoTAFEanddoa course—youwouldreallyloveit.’ Thatwasalittleconfronting consideringthatIhadleftschoolinYear8.Ihadattendedpart of Year 8 and then half a term of Year 9. However, I did continue to learn after leaving school and completed a Certificate4inClothingDesignandProduction.

Ithen enrolledin acourse, Certificate 4YouthWork. Itwas great,andfromthenonIbecameayouthworker,and started doingsomegrassrootsstuffaroundNimbininyouthclubs,and educational programmes, including domestic violence, respectful relationships and so on. I remained in that role for aboutthirteenyears.

When I had saved enough money, I had been with North Coast Community Housing for six years. I was now in a good position to build myself a beautiful home in Mum’s hippie commune,whereIdidn’thavetopayfortheland.Fortunately, both Dad and my stepfather were builders, and they built the rammed earth house for me. I had so much fun designing and creating our new home with its large spiral staircase and bottles in the walls; and it was so colourful and vibrant. Zara wassixwhenwemovedintothecommunethatIwasraisedon. Irentitoutnow,buteverytimeIvisitmyheartstillleapswith delight.

We stayed in that house for about eight years. During that eight-year period, I realised I should look to the future, and wondered what I could do. I did want to buy my own piece of landonedaytohavesomespaceofmyown.Sobelievingthatit would open doors of opportunity, I enrolled at university to pursueaSocialSciencedegreeincounselling.

Eventually, I felt the need to look for another job and I just happened to find an advertisement for a position at North Coast Community Housing, seeking a person to work with ‘at risktenancies’. Coincidentally,theyneededsomeone whoheld a Social Science degree. At the time, I only had one unit to go beforegraduating,soIdecidedtoapply.

Apparently, a huge number of people applied for this position. I couldn’t believe it when I made it through the first twostagesofrecruitment,andwasevenmoresurprisedwhenI wasactuallyofferedthejob.SothereIwas,walkingintoNorth CoastCommunityHousingonmyfirstday,whichwasintheold Department of Community Services building, where I went at the age of fourteen, and I heard a friendly voice call out from theFinanceDepartment itwasRobyn.Robynhadworkedfor theorganisationformanyyearsandwassomeoneIhadspoken toonthephonemanytimeswhenIwasatenant.Butnow,we werepeers.

I was thrilled to work with the tenants of NCCH. I believe thatsomeofthechallengesItoohadfacedduringmyownlife, and the experience I picked up along the way through my previouswork,hadpreparedmewelltoworkwiththesegreat people. It gave me so much satisfaction. I believe that when you’ve had similar life experiences, some people connect with youinadifferentway.Somehow,itcanmakethemfeelmoreat ease, and they can relate to you knowing that you would understand. I’m not saying that if you haven’t had similar experiences, they don’t connect, but when I go into people’s homes and they seemydown-to-earth style andtattoos, some tendtorespondmoreeasily.

When working in the young offenders’ system, I turned up withmytattoosonshow,andwhenIwenttoAkmena,theboys wouldcome outtotouchandaskabout the tattoos. Attimes,I don’tevenspeak proper,butIdoknowthatthatwasoneofthe reasonsNCCHofferedmethejob.

However,lifecircumstancesconstantlychange,soIenjoyed working for the organisation until my journey altered course andledmeonanewpath.

I will never forget the years I lived in North Coast Community Housing. The opportunity came along at a time whenitwasverymuchneeded,somydaughterandIgrewup insafe,secureandaffordablehousingthattrulyfeltlikehome.I lovedit,andIamsogratefulforthatexperience.

MARY

Down, But Not Out

Iwas born in Sydney in 1944, and was the youngest of five children. I attended the same school at Dulwich Hill until I completedtheLeavingCertificate.

When I left school, I started working for the Department of Transport; first at head office, and I was later sent to country registriestofillinforstaffthatwereonsickleaveorhadleft. It was a great arrangement, and then Keith andI were wed in 1966. Keith was qualified as both a watchmaker and a butcher. He had completed both apprenticeships, and when I methimhewasworkingintheWesternSuburbsLeaguesClub, andthenworkedattheRetailers’ClubinSydneyforsometime after we were married; and from there he went on to manage liquorstores.

Whenwemarried,IwasapractisingCatholicandKeithwas an Anglican. He always supported me in the decision to raise our children as Catholics, and he attended church with us. We had a business in town, when a nun from the convent came over one dayandaskedfor me, knowingfullwell thatI would notbethere.Overcoffee,shetoldKeiththattherewastobean information night for people who were interested in learning about our faith, and asked if he would be interested in going. The nun told him that ifhe attended three months of spiritual learning,andattheendofthatperiodhedecidedtojoinus,he couldthenbeconfirmedasaCatholic.

Keith did attend and decided to be confirmed, and that has beenwonderfulforusasacoupleandafamily.Justbeingable toshareitwitheachotheriswhatkeptustogetherthroughthe many difficult times in our lives, and it gave us the spiritual strengthtokeepgoing.

We left Sydney in 1978 and moved to Little Hartley in the BlueMountains,andmanagedaholidayfarmfortwoyears.As Keith was recuperating from a kidney operation, we resigned from the farm in 1980 and moved to northern New South Wales to take care of my sister’s five children, and we never wentback.

We did own a house in Sydney at the time, but we couldn’t return because we had tenants who were determined to stay thereuntiltheirleaseexpired.Sowestayedhereandboughta business, a coffee shop/restaurant, which we ran for six years until the owners of the building decided to rebuild, and wouldn’t renew our lease. We could do nothing but close up andgo.

So we started all over again. Keith was working as a male nurse at a nursing home, and I was working for a haulage company,andweboughtthishomethroughHomeFund.Three years later, HomeFund collapsed and we received a letter informingusthat,becauseofour age,we wouldnotbeable to repay the loan, so we had to sell the home back to them and becometenants.Sothat’showwecametobeherenow.

But, everything has a silver lining. Keith and I had always wanted to foster children. It didn't seem right to foster while ourowntwoweregrowingup,aswewouldhavebeentoobusy togivefosterchildrentheattentiontheyneeded.Thoughnow, our children were grown up and married. When we sold our homeback,Ialsoacknowledgedthatwewouldprobablynever be in a position to have another house of our own due to our age,soIresignedfrommyjob.

One day, we were just sitting when we heard an ad on the radio about an information night on fostering. This was what we had been waiting for. So we attended that information session and it all started from that night. The process began where we completed the compulsory training; we were both

assessed and had police checks carried out. That was the beginningofeighteenyearsoffostering.

Over the years, we had sixty-five children come through here, and more than half of those have been newborns. Many newborns came straight from hospital when they were just over a day old. The mothers know from the time they are pregnant that their baby will be going into care, and these babiesareusuallyanotherchildbornofalargefamilythatare already in care. These women just keep having more children butdon'tdoanythingtochangetheirlifestyle,sotheyknowthe procedure when changes don’t take place. Within an hour of givingbirth,theysimplywalkoutofthehospitalandleavethe babybehind.Sothat’swhywe’vehadsomanythatyoung.But forus,it’sbeenwonderful!

Sadly though, Keith is not a well man now. He is on oxygen twenty-fourhoursadayandIamhisfull-timecarer.Becauseof that, we can no longer take in more children. One boy still remainswithus,James.Heisnowfifteenandwehavehadhim since he was a baby. His sister also lived with us for thirteen andahalfyears,butunfortunately,when shewasfourteenwe had a placement breakdown. We had to make the heartwrenching decision to have her placed elsewhere for her own benefit. Unfortunately, her life was going totally off track, and wecouldseethatshewasgoingtohaveasuccessionoftimein detention,andeverythingthatshehadworkedforduringthose thirteenyearswouldgodownthedrain.Sheisgiftedandvery intelligent,andshesimplyhadtoomuchtolose.

For the first six months after she left she was full of anger. Shehadbeensoconfidentofourloveforher,andeventhough we kept warning her that a move was on the cards, she didn’t thinkwewouldevergothroughwithit.Butwehadto forher sake. However, it didn’t stop our own grief. Keith and I had to have counselling for over six months to try and cope with the heartache, and we couldn’t help but carry a certain amount of guilt.Jamesalsohadtohavecounsellingbecausehehadlosthis sister. I believe that situation was probably the most difficult challengewehadfacedthroughallouryearsoffostering.

Although,westillhavehercomeandstaywithus.Whenyou lovesomeoneaswedoher,youcan’tstoplovingthem,andyou can’t turn them away completely. She attends the same school as James, so they do get to see each other every day, and she often comes over after school. Thankfully, we have a good relationshipwithhernewcarers.

We can see many changes in her, but we can also see areas whereshewillneverchange.Unfortunately.Shewon’tletgoof the past, and she blames her past for the choices she makes now. James is the opposite and has an amazing attitude towardslife:‘whateverhappenshappens,andthepastbelongs in the past’. Brother and sister are like oil and water. James loves the world, and the world loves him. He has the most beautiful personality and he is also extremely talented. Sport, music and singing are very important to him, so I don’t get muchfreetime.MusicisthesubjectJameswillbedoingfor his HigherSchoolCertificate.

When she was living with us, James’s sister was very much into her stuff too. That is what breaks my heart. For six years she was doing exceptionally well with her music and singing. She hasabeautifulsingingvoice. Ihadcalculatedthatover six yearswe hadpaidover $32,000 on her musicandsinging.But that’sovernow.She’sinvolvedindramanowadays,butthatis notwherehertalentlies,andthatisverysadindeed.

I believe we developed the urge to foster children because we could only have the two, and we were lucky to have them. We felt there was something missing, and when we managed theholidayfarm,wemetawonderfulcouplewhowereaspoor as church mice. The only possession they owned was a small old caravan and a share of the farm. They were fostering two children, and the reason they bought a share of the farm was because they only lived an hour away, and they could bring their children tothe farm for a weekendgetawaywhichdidn’t costthemacent.

Justobservingthiscouple’sdevotiontothosechildrenmade usrealisethatwewouldliketodothesame.Butwhileworking onthefarmintheBlueMountainssevendaysaweek,itwould

have been impossible to devote our time and energy to children.

When we owned the business up here, we were still too busytoconsiderfostering.Whenthatfellthrough,wewerejust scraping through financially. We understood that the governmentpaida carer’sallowance,butwedidn'twanttodo it for the money we wanted to foster to provide love and a homeforchildrenthatneededone,forwhateverlengthoftime. So we put it on hold again until we retired, at which point the timewasright.

We have been truly blessed. Of all those children, we probablyonlyhadaboutfourreallydifficultplacements,andby comparison to some carers’ placements, we have been unbelievablylucky.Also,themajorityofchildrenthathadbeen in our care didn't go back to the life they had come from, and for thatwe feel mostfortunate. Theyhadgone ontolong-term placements elsewhere either with other family members or othercarers,whilesomehadbeenadopted.

Some of our experiences over the years have been wonderful. One child I recall in particular, and she was the prettiest little baby. She was being adopted by a couple from Waggawhohadbeenonthewaitinglistforthirteenyears.We askedthedepartmentifitwerepossibleforthecoupletocome and stay with us for a few days so that we could hover in the background and provide guidance where needed. The couple hadneverhadsmallbabies,sowewantedtoensuretheycould handle her and have them get to know her a little before heading back to Wagga as a family. The adoption agency was happy with the idea, and as it turned out, thathad never been donebefore.

Theywerethenicestcouple everyhourwhiledrivingfrom Wagga, they rang to ask: ‘What is our baby girl doing now?’ Upon their arrival, we had her in a bouncinette on the table. Whentheywalkedinandsawherforthefirsttime,thecouple burst into tears, and that was a wonderfully emotional experience for us. Keith had the camera ready to capture that veryspecialmoment,andthephotoscaptureditbeautifully.

The new parents stayed for almost a week. They were extremelyeasygoingpeopleandwelovedeveryminuteoftheir company. That beautifulbaby had been with us for four and a half months, and now, she is fifteen years old. To this day we are still in touch. Every year the family come and spend a holiday with us, or we go out to dinner, or we do something special.Recently,theytookourboytoMovieWorldontheGold Coastwiththeirdaughterandherfriend,andtheymetupagain onanotherday.Theyarelikeourfamily.

Wekeepintouchwithquiteafewofthechildrenwhowere special to us. But we can’t with all of them due to various circumstances.Oneboy,nowsixteen,livedwithusatthesame timeastheothertwo,sotheybothgetalongverywellandeach considerstheotherlikeabrother.

Keith recently received a presentation for being a member of St. Vincent de Paul for twenty years, but it’s actually been twenty-five. Sadly, he had to give up that work as his health continuedtodecline,andhedoesmissitterribly.Hemissesthe companionship as well as the spiritual connection. His conditionnowrequireshimtobeonoxygencontinuously,and Keithalsofindsithardtoeataschewinghisfoodissotiringfor him.Itisverysadbecausehefeelsthereisnothingworthwhile inhislifeanymore.

You can’t change the past, as it was in another chapter of your story book. I believe that our setbacks have made us stronger, more resilient and more determined. We might be down, but we are not beaten. Experiencing difficult times in one‘slifedoeshelpustoappreciatethegoodtimes. Andmostimportantly,wehavesomanyhappymemories...

PETER

Iwas born in 1940 in Dee Why, Sydney, and I was the youngest of five children. My eldest brother, Max, was fatallyhitbyatramwhenhehadbeensentacrosstheroadone day to buy some groceries. At that time, my father had cancer ofthefacewhichwascausedfromyearsofexposuretothesun, andmymotherhadtofeedhimthroughatubebecausehisface had been eaten away. It was an awful time for the family especially for Mum. Mum had already been suffering from tuberculosiswhenmybrotherwaskilled,adevastatinglossfor herasamother,andthenfivemonthslater,myfatherdiedtoo. It all became too much for her to cope with, so Mum was admittedintoaresthomeandmysistersandIwereplacedina children’shome.

In spite of all her troubles though, Mum wanted to keep us together,soshepulledmeoutwhenIwasaboutfour,andafter afewmonths,shewasreadytobringthegirlshometoo.

Our parents were allocated a house at Narraweena in 1938 from the Housing Commission, not too far from Dee Why. It was only a modest cottage, but Mum eventually bought it for threehundredpounds,andwewereallhappythere.Irecallthe milkman, baker and the iceman making their deliveries by horseandcart.

Living near the beach was enjoyable. Dad loved his fishing and he used to have a chair at Long Reef, which they called ’SnowyHarris’sChair’.Dadwaswellknowninthearea.

Our taste in music was universal. My eldest sister, Madge, enjoyed the opera, such as, The Barber of Seville, and similar. She particularly loved listening to sopranos and tenors. My

younger sister, Wendy, had a wider range of musical interests and loved anything that was on the Top 40. Gwen, my middle sisteronlytoleratedthetwo.IlikedlisteningtoAlJolson,Bing Crosby, Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong. I also liked classical pieces, but preferred the music rather than the singing. There was a radio show on Saturday nights that we alwaystunedintocalled The Witch’s Tales.Wewouldcurlupon Mum’s bed and it would scare us to bits. But it was fun. Like manykidsofthetimes,wewerealwaysoutplayinganddidn't comeinuntilaboutsixo’clockatnight.

There was an empty tram shed that was used by the Dee Why-Warringah Amateur Athletics Club where we had a great time playing at being gymnasts and runners—even weightlifting. It was a good life. I believe that people of our generation had the best times compared to those of today. There has been so much advancement over the decades, like cars and television, and many more jobs to choose from; but there is also a lot more freedom and kids grow up too early. Duringour childhood,we hadtime tobea kidbefore wegrew up.Wehadnotechnologytokeepusamused,butwefoundour ownwaytohavefun,andweplayedgameslike marbles,jacks andfiddlesticks,andtheywerejustasentertaining.

I attended Dee Why Public School and later went to Manly Boys’ High School until I completed my Intermediate Certificate. I had to leave because Mum could no longer afford tosupportme.SoIwentstraightintothePostmaster-General’s Department(PMG)andbecameatechnician.

In 1963, Iwent toCoonabarabran andgotmarried. We had twodaughters:Karenwasbornin1969,andSusanin1972.But after a few years, our relationship began to deteriorate as my wifedidn’tlikemedoingshiftworkatall.Gradually,wedrifted apartandsplitupaftersevenyearsofmarriage.

The best time to workwas duringthe 1950’s and 1960’s. It wasgreat.Therewasfreedom,withnoneoftheregulationsand redtapethatweexperiencenowadays.Wegottheworkdone, butwealsohadalotoffundoingit.

I stayed with the PMG until I was about forty-five. When theygavemeapayout,itmeantIdidn’thavetowork,soIwent

to university to obtain a qualification in computer programming. By that time my daughters wanted to go to university, so we all moved to Brisbane. I found a job reading electricitymeters,andthenbecameatechnicianwiththeRoyal BrisbaneHospital.Werentedacoupleofhousesandwhenthe girlsbothgraduatedandleft,Icamebacktothe northcoastof NewSouthWales.

When working with the PMG, Ihad an accident and injured myknee.Ihadmetalputinmykneetorepairit,andnowhave two knees with metal in them. Each time I catch a plane, I get caughtbythemetaldetector.That’soneofthereasonsIchoose nottotravelbyairthesedays.

I have owned three houses over the years. I bought one when I was first married. It was on a very steep block in Lismore on the edge of town. The second house I built was in Nimbin.ThethirdwasonMacleayIslandinBrisbane,butIsold it at a loss, because Karen and Susan didn’t want to live there. ButmostofthetimeIrented.

When I was living at a caravan park in Wardell, I turned sixty-five, and I then went on a pension and was then able to apply for housing with North Coast CommunityHousing. They offeredmeaplaceinEastLismorefirst,andthenmovedmeto Goonellabah.I’venowbeenwiththemforeightyears.

IhavebeenontheTenantCouncilforsixyears,anditkeeps us really busy. I enjoy volunteering, as once you get into volunteering,youlearntodoavarietyofthingswhichkeepsit interesting. I also take Red Cross calls. Some people treat you likeacounsellor,andlovetotalkendlessly.TheRedCrosscalls are through Telecross, who help people to stay in their own homes.Toprovidepeaceofmindtothosewhoareisolatedand alone, a daily call is made by volunteers to check on their wellbeing,andthisserviceisavailable365daysayear.Weonly makeonecalleachday,soitisnogreatstrain.

When Iwaslookingforvolunteer jobsIalsojoinedthe Red Cross Emergency team. We work with police and church organisationsliketheSalvationArmytoprovideassistancefor people who are stranded by floods and bushfires. It’s a great job, but it does get tiring because you might have to work

twelvetosixteenhourshifts.However,youdogettremendous satisfactionfromit.

I have found that volunteering gives me a real purpose. There is so much more I would like to do to help our tenants liveabetterlife.

PIPPIN

Iwas born in London in 1944 during the Second World War, during a time when England was still under attack by enemy aircrafts dropping bombs. My motherandherchildren,MaryandDavid,hadbeenbroughtto London from Blackpool by her husband, but were then abandoned. Mary and David were soon evacuated to Scotland toavoidthedevastationofwar.

In 1942, my mother met my father who was a French Canadian of Italian stock. He wa Canadian army. When I was three, my father had to return to Canada, but with the intention of returning, however unforeseenfamilycircumstancesforcedhimtostayinCanada.

Mumraisedusalone,andMary,myoldersister,tookcareof mewhileMumwasatwork.However,whenIwasaboutseven, my sister and brother were sent to Borstal, a type of youth detention centre that existed to reform delinquent young peoplewhowereoutofparentalcontrol.

It was eventually discovered that I had hearing problems and I was soon issued with a hearing aid. A few years later, I developed an infection in my inner ear, for which I was administered penicillin in hospital. Luckily, that improved my deafness,butnotcompletely.

At the age of eleven, we moved out of our house that had been condemned—which was actually next door to the house

CharlesDickenshadlivedinwhenhetoowaseleven andinto a flat in Kentish Town. We were on the sixth floor and Uncle Rudolf (my stepfather) moved in with us. He was a Polish merchant seaman who had escaped the Russians over a mountain pass after the Nazis left Poland, and consequently lostacoupleofhisfingersandtoesfromfrostbite.

I went to Haverstock Hill Comprehensive School and overcame, to some extent, my chronic shyness. When I was sixteen, I became engaged, and at seventeen I was married. Almost eighteen months later, I was a Mum. Finding accommodation proved to be difficult, so my husband picked upajobandtravelledtoNewTownonhisVespamotorscooter withaplantogetonthehousinglistthere.Hedidthisfornine months coming home frozen stiff in winter to where we livedwithmymother,Rudolfandyoungersister.Wehadbeen informedthata housewouldnotbe available foranother nine months,sowechangedtackandmyhusbandtookanotherjob even further away, which offered permanent night shift and a coachforthetrip.Hecamehomeonweekendsonly.

The day before leaving hospital after giving birth, my temperature was quite high, but I was discharged anyway. I was still under the weather when someone reported us for living with Mum. Because she hadn’t informed the Housing Departmentthatwewerethere,nordidshepaytheincreasein rent in proportion withextra income, we had no choice but to moveout.Wemanagedtofindtworoomsonthethirdfloorofa dilapidated house, but only after lying about having a child. A few weeks later, my high temperature evolved into a kidney infection, and we then moved into a flat with my in-laws: my husband’s parents, their daughter, who was my age, and their younger son. Thankfully, after a course of antibiotics, my infectionsoondisappearedandIwaswellagain.

Finding suitable and affordable accommodation continued to be a problem so we eventually decided to emigrate to Australia.Ournameswereputonashortlist,whichallowedus ten days to leave once our application reached the top of the list. Ironically, we were offered a house within that ten day period.

We said our goodbyes to loved ones and boarded the boat on our great adventure to start a new life. I was stoked. I couldn’t imagine how we would be housed, so the reality of a semicircularex-armytinstructure,withawalldownthelength ofitthathousedanotherfamily,reallyhithome.Situatednorth ofMelbourne in Broadmeadows,there were alsotwohot/cold rooms and food served in a canteen, and shared toilets and bathrooms. It wasn’t toooo bad. At just twenty and twentythree,withaneighteenmontholdson,wewereonourownat last—well...sortof.

Savings of three hundred and fifty pounds would not go far for a young family, andmy husband also had tohave a car for work.SoIfoundmyselfajobtoo,andafterfourteenmonthswe were finally allocated a flat in the old Olympic Village in West Heidelberg.Irememberhelpingtohaulthefridgeupthestairs to the first floor with my large pregnant belly getting in the way.Soonafter,mysecondson,Danny,wasborn threeyears andoneweekafterhisolderbrother,Ted.

AssoonasIwasable,Ireturnedtoworktotryandsave,but with minimal success, because my husband tired of his cars afterayearandtradedtheminformoredebt.

Eventually we were allocated a house in Frankston, which wasveryexciting;andespeciallybecause Icouldnowcreate a gardenandgrowsomefoodforourfamily.

I had been on a contraceptive pill for ten years until I complained about my lack of libido. I was prescribed another pill much stronger as I found out later called Serial C. It affected me from day one, and I endured four months of an undiagnosed illness that included vomiting, diarrhoea, weight loss,weaknessandaterriblepaininmyhead.Finally,myblood pressure wastaken.Thereading was276over 175whichwas dangerously high, and I was immediately admitted into hospital.

The medical team carried out some horrible tests to determine whether my heart or kidneys were causing the problem. The findings showed that they weren’t, so it was finallyputdowntoSerialCbeingthecause.Unfortunately,my blood pressure never did return to normal, so I still take

medication to manage it, and my health has never quite been thesamesince.

OnceIrecoveredenough,Iwentbacktoschooltofinish my leaving certificate and then went on to complete a diploma in welfare. I chose welfare because I hoped to develop some understanding surrounding the cause of my sisters’ and my mother’sdistress.

I had been receiving disturbing letters, mostly from my older sister, who was eventually diagnosed as having schizophrenia, and who lost her children to the state as a result.Mumsufferedwithstressandworryforher,andformy younger sister who had agoraphobia, a debilitating fear of the world outside the home. Unfortunately, she had been attempting suicide. At the age of twenty-one she succeeded, although it was an open verdict. I was very distraught at the time, but could do nothing to help, except to keep writing support letters and send small amounts of money to Mum towards their heating bills. I have kept all the letters and am usingtheminthe‘FamilyStory’Iamcurrentlyworkingon.

Life for us though was enjoyable despite some marital irritations, but we managed to put our differences aside to createadecentlifeforourtwochildren.

In 1972, we watched the Aquarius Festival on television which was held in Nimbin. It looked so amazing, that I recall wishing I was there to share the experience with them, and from that day, my interest in Nimbin and its way of life was aroused.

I was working at Frankston Council as a Financial Counsellor (one of the first), when at last, I could afford to go back and see my family in London. When I arrived, I was shocked at my mother’s condition. She was taking so many prescriptiondrugsthatshecouldn’ttalktome,andhertoenails weresolongthatshecouldn’twalk.Shehadn’tsoughtthehelp she needed, as Rudolf would send them away, not understandingthelanguagewellenough.

OnedayIgaveMumabath,withherprotestingalltheway, andlater, shetoldme offandsaid:’I don’t knowhowmanyof you there were!’ It was just me! She was so befuddled that I

sawheronedaytryingtolightamatchwithhercigarette.Idid whatIcouldduringmyvisit, butafter sixweeks, Ireturnedto Australia.Withineighteenmonths,bothMumandRudolphhad died.Andsohadmymarriage.

Imovedoutandoursonsremainedwiththeirfather.During the Christmas holidays, I went to Nimbin with two friends to explore the area and the Tuntable Falls community. After watching the festival on television, I was very interested in their alternative lifestyle and how the community was being managed.

Whenreturninghome,Iinformedmyhusbandthathecould actually build his own house at Tuntable Falls. He liked the idea,soitwasn’tlongbeforehemovedtoNimbinwithhisnow girlfriend to start a new life. When he left, I moved back into thehousewiththeboys,butonthecondition thatweallshare the work and the expenses—like housemates do. It was important for them to learn responsibility to prepare for the world.Ted’sgirlfriendmovedin,andamalehomelessteenager they knew wound up sleeping on the sofa. We organised rosters and a kitty for the bills, and when Danny left school, they all worked together in the local shoe factory. An opportunitydidariseforthethreeofthemtomanageontheir own when I took Danny to Nimbin so he could stay with his father,andIstayedwithmymalefriend.

It was only a matter oftime before Ted and hispartner felt theneedtoliveontheirown.Theytoldmehowtheyhadtried tosneakoutoneeveningtospendsomealonetime,onlytobe metbytheothertwoatthefrontdoorwith:‘So,wherearewe going?’Reluctantly, theyhadbecome the newmum anddad the taxi driver. To solve their problem, we began flat hunting, only to discover that all they could afford was a dump. So as muchastheydidn'twantto,theyhadnochoicebuttostay.

AftertwoyearsImovedtoTuntableFalls,andaftertrialling outtheareaforoneyear,Iboughtalittleshack.Threemonths later, I was diagnosed with malignant breast cancer eight yearsaftertakingSerialC.Subsequently,IfoundoutthatSerial C was taken off the market because research showed that it

produced tumours in the breasts of mice. What were they thinking—prescribingthattomebeforeeventestingit!

So,Ipursuedmypre-ordainedplan:thatifIweretoeverget cancer,I’dseekapsychicsurgeoninthePhilippines.Withthat, Iborrowed$1,000andstartedonmyjourney.

LandinginManila,Istayedovernightandcaughtadomestic flight to Baggio, where Marcello Assuigi lived, only to be told that he was visiting relatives in the provinces. The family of Marcello’s friend were kind enough to take me in until his return. When Marcello arrived home, I underwent treatment fromhimforsixweeks.HetoldmethathehadaskedGodwhyI had been sent to him, and the message he received back was: ‘tomakememorespiritual’.

Iexperiencedafunnysensationofcoolnesswhenhishands were inside me, and he pulled out ‘bits and pieces’, but he would not take out the lump. Eventually he asserted that the cancerwasdeadandthattherootsweredislodged,whichtied inwiththefeelingofpullinginmyneckandunderarmwhenhe wasworkingonme.Hecounselledmetothinkhappythoughts, as I was really stressed from the marriage breakup, the move andthenmyillness.

I knew the cancer had been caused by the birth control pill from eight years before. I’ll be eternally grateful for the generosityofmybenefactors.

After six weeks,I came home and had a mastectomy, (I’m a five-bob-each-way person}, but neither chemotherapy nor radiationwereoffered.Wasthatbecausethecancerwasdead? Iwonder.

Ifeltterrible.AftersurgeryIreturnedtomydismalshackin Nimbin,andthatdidn’tmakemefeelanybetter.Ithadalltaken somuchoutofmethatIbecameutterlydepleted. Ihadhoped to join my neighbours on the Mount Nardi Mountain in our quest to save the forest, but I was so weak, that it was hard enoughjusttofeedmyself;andmystresslevelswereveryhigh. Afterawhile,mydentist,whowasalsoanaturopath,offered tohelpmerecoverwithabodycleansetoridmybodyofbuilt up toxins. I spent a week in a local motel where I fasted and was given enemas and supplements. Believe me ... when the

cleansingwasover,mybodywassocleaninsidethatitfeltlike Iwasalmostfloating.Iwasverygratefulfortheirhelp.

After two years, the house in Melbourne was sold, and the pittance left over from the sale was divvied out between the fourofus,andtheboysthendecidedtomoveuptoNimbinas well. Ted received a share on the property and hubby helped him to build a one-room shelter the start of a house. They moved in just before the birth of their baby, and my first grandchild(aspicturedwithme).

By this time, I’d been working on the Nimbin News as a volunteer for what was to become a marathon twenty-seven year slog. I started writing Gloria’s Raves and going on Savethe-World trips. I worked on making the shack more liveable and growing various foods. The surrounds were high walls of lantana, which I cleared with my friends, Willing Workers on Organic Farms (Wwoofers). Along the way, I met so many beautiful people through this organisation. It was like having representativesfrom diversecountriesvisiting,cookingfeasts, working and swapping life stories. I couldn’t have done it withoutthem.

Meanwhile, the local jumping ants stung me regularly and my reaction to them became progressively worse. Inevitably after twenty years, I started going to New Zealand at the start of their season to escape, just as they would come out from their underground nests in spring, hopping mad, and looking forme.

Just before my first trip to New Zealand, I applied for housing and was told that it could take about fifteen years. Meanwhile,mypoorWwoofershadthethrillingtaskofrushing meofftothehospitalafterbeingstung vomiting,shittingand passingout myallergyhadbecomeanaphylactic.

When I returned from one of my New Zealand trips, I received a phone call inviting me to inspect a flat. And from thatday,mylifechanged.

So, you could say that getting my one bedroom flat with power, TVchannels, mobile phone coverage, and the luxury of afridgewaslifesavingforme.Ishallalwaystreasurethemany adventures and opportunities that came with living in the

rainforest amongst the unconventional personalities, and the wildlife which gave me pleasurable and unforgettable experiences.

But now, I am quite happy to live quietly, enjoy my family andpursuemyscientificinterestsabout howlifecreatesitself, andtheblackhole.Ihavenowbeeninmyunitforthreeyears;I truly appreciate having affordable rent, and hopefully, permanenthousing. It’sobviousfrom mystory,thatthe stress ofhousingforpeopleonlowincomesisnotanewproblem,but isanongoingone.

RAY& LORRAINE

Share Michael’s Story

Our son Michael is now fifty-one years old. He had been living at home with us until he was sixteen, and then wenttoliveinaplacecalledRainbowLodgeintheBlue Mountains. Michael was at Rainbow Lodge for about twelve months, and came home every second weekend. At that stage, he had started going through puberty which was causing him some problems. The problems worsened and the support staff couldn’tdoanythingwithhim,andMichaelwassoonadmitted into the Parramatta Mental Institution, as there was nowhere elseforhimtogo.

It was extremely hard to get Michael him into any type of accommodation. Eventually a social worker, who had often visited him at our home, finally classified his disability and organisedaccommodationforhimatRydalmere.Eventhere,he livedwithsomanypeople, because he hadn’tbeen placedin a cottage. Michaelwas there for a couple ofyearsbefore he was finally placed in one of the cottages of five people. With much fewer people to share with, it meant that Michael could have moreoneononeattention.

There were twenty to thirty-five houses in this facility, and while staff ran them in accordance with government rules, there wasn't the same flexibility and choice in terms of programs that Michael has up here now. But that is understandablewhenstaffareexpectedtolookafteranywhere

up to two hundred and fifty people with a multiple range of disabilities, and varying levels of medication. And many of the residents had violent behaviours too. Michael lived there for overtwentyyears.

When we moved up to northern New South Wales, we flew Michael up every three months to spend some time at home withus.Becauseweweregettingolder,wepushedhardtoget himaccommodatedclosertohome.Themainconcernforusis that when it is our time to pass, we can do so with peace of mindinknowingthatMichaeliscontentedandstillbeingcared for.Thathasalwaysbeenourgoal.

One day, we spoke to a lady who was very helpful, and eventually, Michael was offered accommodation up here. MichaelhasnowbeenontheNorthCoastforeighteenmonths.

We are very happy with Lifebridge East Incorporated and theircarers.Theymakeusfeelverywelcome,andwedoliketo helpquiteabitasweareverysociablepeople.

ROBYN The Longest Serving Employee

When I started working for North Coast CommunityHousingin1987,Lismorewasinflood.Myfirstday wastocommenceonaTuesday,butIcouldn’tgettheredueto thedeluge.Irememberthinkingthatitwouldn’tbeagoodlook formyfirstday.Anyhow,Imadeittoworkthefollowingday. It was a small company back then with only two housing officers and I was appointed as the bookkeeper and receptionist. It was called the Community Tenancy Scheme, North Coast Community Housing (NCCH). NCCH had approximatelysixty-fivepropertiesatthe time,andalsodidn’t havetheTweedorGraftonoffices.

A couple of years later, we opened the Tweed office and amalgamated with the Grafton Office. The other community tenancyschemescoveredtheareafromCoffsHarbourtoTaree. It was quite a grass roots scheme in those days, with the various divisions of tenancy schemes trying to get together to offer asmuchsupporttoeachother aspossible.We hadmany combinedtrainingevents,whichwereusuallyatCoffsHarbour. At some of the locations, such as Coffs Harbour, it was a one person shop where Anton Cash worked. At that time, some of ourtenantsdidvoluntarywork,andwecouldn'thaveachieved what we did without their help. Not only did their voluntary involvementbenefitus,butitwasgoodforthetenantstoo.

The Board of Directors at that time were community representatives from organisations such as the Department of CommunityServices,DepartmentofHousingandSt.Vincentde Paul.Therewasahugeinterestintenantsparticipatinginhow the scheme could be run. Nowadays, the Tenant Council performsthatfunction.

Thechangesbeganintheearly1990’swhenfundingbecame moreavailable.WewereabletofundhousinginEgginsPlacein Goonellabah, North and East Street in Casino, Margaret Street in Tweed Heads, and Mulgum House in Nimbin. Eventually funding was granted that enabled us to purchase twenty-two properties that were the Social Housing Subsidy Program (SHSP).Irememberitsowellbecausewereceivedthefunding and only had so many weeks to purchase these twenty-two properties which we still have today. The funding was made available,butitwasveryrushed.

We did have our ups and downs too, and the company was on the brink of closing down a few times. The Tenancy Advice Servicewascutinasimilarwaytowhatiscurrentlyhappening with women’s refuges. That was when the regions united to become a stronger organisation, and the NSW Federation of Housing, a much stronger group, became involved also. Together,westoodstrong.

There were many worrying times in the early stages, and onewasoveralmostlosingourpublicliabilityinsurance.Often, whether we would receive funding was another concern, especially when the rent was due. But what I liked about the company was that it really started out to offer housing for single mothers. It gave them more choices. It wasn’t a big estate, and I liked that, because it felt personal and that we weremakingadifferencetotheirlives.

After receiving more funding we were able to purchase morepropertiesandhousemorepeople.Therewasavarietyof different programs initiated from the additional funding. The oneIwassadaboutwastheMulgumHouseprojectwhichwas tobefortheagedatNimbin.Itneverdidgetoffitsfeet.Ithink theywantedpeoplefromagessixty-five.Itwasbasicallytobea manager/housekeeper arrangement, and the tenants would

have their own rooms something like a supported living facility, with common lounge and dining areas. It was then changedfrom peopleofsixty-fiveyearsupresidingin Nimbin, down to fifty-five years up. I believe that project eventually wenttoAnglicare.

And then there was the Nimbin Youth Housing. There have been a few successful tenant stories as well, including Maire Barron, who worked for the company for a while, and whose story is included in this book. Not all have done as well as Maire,buttherehavebeenseveraltenantswhohavemovedon and now have their own homes. Being able to pay lower rent forawhileenabledsometenantstosaveandachievetheirgoal. It has also been lovely to offer housing to many indigenous people.Therehavebeensomewonderfultenantsandstories.

NCCH went from two housing workers, with one bookkeeper/receptionist and one tenant whobasically carried out the inspections for us. That worked out for a time, but we eventually progressed and became more professional. The regulationsbegan tochange. For example, whenIstartedwith NCCH, I was basically the bookkeeper, receptionist and often babysitter, while thehousingofficersinterviewedprospective tenants. The job later became so big that we had to have a person on the frontdesk. We hadmanytrainees,andthatwas quitesuccessful,anditpushedmeintobecomingasupervisor. Wealsohadtenantswhoeventuallybecamestaff.

Lyndall Katz, who now works for the Federation, started withus.ShehasbeenwiththecompanyandtheFederationfor aslongasIhave.

I loved my job. We were almost like family to the tenants, especiallywhenitwasstillsmall.Iknewthemallbyname,but bythetimeIleftNCCHtwoyearsago,thereweretoomanyfor me to remember. Occasionally, I still run into those early tenantsintownorthesupermarket.

WestartedinClubLaneinLismorewhichwasaholeinthe wall! Prospective tenants climbed up two flights of stairs, and would all sit in chairs, side by side, waiting to be interviewed. We only had a certain number of houses to allocate, but many

people applied. The interview panel consisted of three that included:twostaffmembersandusuallyatenant.

Alongside our office in Club Lane were offices for Tenant Advice and Women Up North, so we supported each other. During the 1990’s, we then moved the office further along Molesworth Street near the Courthouse. In that time, we also opened the Tweed office in Murwillumbah and Lynne Marlow ranitasaone-personshowforquitesometime.Inthosedays, Iwasoften the onlyperson in the office asother officerswere required to go out in the field—something that Workplace Health&Safetywouldnotallowtoday.

NCCH offered emergency housing as well. At the rear of a house in Dawson Street, was a granny flat that we used for emergencyhousing,wherethetenant/sincrisiswasgivenone month’s accommodation. Often, one month allowed enough time for a property to become vacant at which point the tenant/s would be moved over to more permanent accommodation.

In the early days, as well as being the bookkeeper and receptionist, I was also involved in tribunals, where I was required to appear at the hearing with regard to rentals in arrears.Ifoundthatquiteinteresting,althoughitwasnotreally the role of a receptionist or bookkeeper, but the job fell on whoeverwasavailableatthetime.

Astime passedby, we continuedtakingon more properties each year. There was the leasehold program which required dealingswithrealestateagentsandprivatelandlords.Wewere onlyfundedforseventyleaseholdproperties.

In line with the company's growth, it has become more professional.ThechangeofboardstructurerepositionedNCCH to operate more like a business, as the board now comprises professional people that bring with them a wealth of knowledge,skillsandexperience.

We have also had a few Executive Officers with varying personalities. At the beginning, none of us worked full-time only two or three days a week. So NCCH wasn’t necessarily their primary job. I started working three days per week, and

thenitextendedtofourdays,andonthefifthday,Iworkedfor anothercompany.Ijustputonanotherhat.

Changes made on the financial side of business were huge too.Inmyinitialroleasbookkeeper,Iusedamanualcashbook system using a pen, and then computers came in and offered various financial software programs. Now, the rent is paid directly from Centrelink to us. I thought it was brilliant that NCCH worked with Centrelink to organise such an effective system.

It is wonderful to see what NCCH is achieving today— building affordable housing for so many people who need a place to call home. In addition, it is also wonderful that properties, including the exterior, can be maintained to keep themingoodcondition,asearlier,fundingwasn’tavailablefor ongoing property maintenance. Being able to pass on water consumptioncostswasalsoamajorwaytostretchoutfunding dollars.Thechangesovertheyearshavebeenenormous.

I knew a great deal about the office and the tenants, and it was great having that knowledge. Even after I left, there were still some tenants who had been with NCCH for a very long time. I recall them coming in to be interviewed, and then saw them being moved from town to town to meet their changing needs.

ButIfeltforthetenantswhohadlivedinoneplaceformany years, and then their children left home. In such cases, the tenantswere askedto moveintosmaller placestomake room for new families needing accommodation. It made sense of course,butitwasveryunsettlingforsome.However,ourmost important work was to provide housing for people in need in themostefficientway.

The last few years has seen a considerable increase in staff training, giving staff the opportunity to learn and grow. The training wasnot only for staff however, but alsofor the Board of Directors, as occasionally, they were also moving into uncharteredwaters.

I consider myself lucky to have worked with North Coast Community Housing for twenty-five years, and I have an enormousamountofrespectfortheworktheydothatbenefits

thelivesofmany.Ihaveenjoyedeverymomentduringmytime there,andfeelthatIalsohavemadeadifferencetosomeofthe tenants. I was always a team player and felt valued as a team member. In the end though, the functions of my position was splitandspreadacrossothers.Theskillsrequiredforloansand building of properties, and other considerations too, changed my job requirements and because I was at the retiring age, I decidedtotakearedundancy.

Over the years I have been nominated for Employee of the Year Awards with the Federation, and received a Gold and Silver Award. I was very proud of those awards and one of themincludedtheinscription:

’Robyn's commitment and dedication to the company and its aims are evident by her long-standing employment. Robyn has been able to achieve a balance of attending to the needs of the clients while recognising the role and responsibilities of a social housing business.’

I also received a Community Sector Award as a quiet achiever just after I left. It was Maire Barron who nominated me. So it was a beautiful way to finish work after twenty-five years to be nominated by a tenant, who was only seventeen whenImether.

I couldn’t be happier that my work has been acknowledged andappreciated.